Shreya To Jinx
by Meiriona
Summary: Who is Jinx? How did she become what she is? Begins in her native India on her third birthday. Chapter Twenty Two: Night at the movies.
1. The early years

Disclaimer: blah blah blah I dont own this stuff.

If you dont understand a word, either keep reading or look it up. My take on Jinx combines the comics and show, trying for the best of both worlds. Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

"Ayah!" A child cried in Hindustani, small face tear covered. "Ayah help me!"

The aged woman who was her nurse stood in pure shock. For what had come over the Misse Sahib was as the tales she told the child at night. "Ayah it flames!"  
The girl had just entered her third year of life, today the celebration was to be held. A new sari had been made for the child, and the Ayah was helping her into it when this began. Her poor frail body had begun convulsing, and the Ayah feared for her life, for if the Misse Sahib were lost, her own was forfeit.

Soft strands of hair the color of straw blazed with an unnatural light, purest Violet, color of the Spirit itself, as if being fed from her sixth Chakra, her holy Eye atop her forehead.

The Ayah could not call out to anyone in the bungalow, her voice frozen in her throat as her charge clawed at the air, writhing on the ground.

Then there was a thunderclap. As the rains began pouring down, the girl who was known as Shreya (luck in Sanskrit) lay as if dead.

It was then the Ayah was able to scream. Soon the Misse Sahib was in a room filled with the dark faces of the servants, where she woke to a cool hand on her forehead. Before her, a priestess of Lakshmi stood chanting.

When her eyes opened, a gasp went up around the room. For though the Chakra on her forehead had faded, her hair was now the color of the spirit itself, and the change had extended to her tiny eyes.

It was then Shreya was told she was Chosen of the Goddess, and whisked away to a temple, never to see the Mem Sahib or her beloved Ayah again.

The first day in the temple of Lakshmi, and already she was a joke.  
"look, see, she has hair the color of the Chakra"

"they say she's only three years old"  
"No one could have powers enough to merit entrance at that age"  
"The say her mother donated lots of money to take her in"

The tones were harsh, the other novices were mostly charity cases. Shreya soon learned to avoid the older students, focus all her energy on herself.

Her mentors loved it. "Wonderful Shreya, soon you will master meditation"  
"Thank you Devi"

Days passed, and soon the first year of her training was over. She was still far too young to join the novices. And her attention was that of a child still.

Instead of learning the ways of the Goddess, Shreya wanted to play in the gardens.  
"Come back flowermoth!" The girl was clothed as any novice, in a sari of plain white cloth of mixed origins. Shreya of course had managed to escape her lessons, music was fun, but she wanted to dance like Shiva, not waste her breath on a flute she would never get a sound from.

There was a small tree in the courtyard garden, and Shreya had many a scraped knee from trying to climb up it. The butterflies were up near the blossoms, and their wings entranced the girl so much. Like the flames in the temple, the one that were treated with powders to turn colors.

She just wanted to touch them. If she could only reach just a bit farther she could- "SHREYA!"

Oh Drat, Priestess Devika had found her again. "Little Devi daughter, have care." head of the temple, Devika only attended to her because of the money that the Sahib Ila gave for her daughters care. And Shreya knew it.

"There are more than the flower moths there, listen, the honey bees seek the flowers as well, and if you get between them and the nectar, you shall feel their bite"

"I know Matr Devi" the pink haired girl scrambled down from the tree, scowling.

Somehow, on the way down she managed to not only tear her sari but also scrape both knees and then fall flat on her behind.

Most children her age would be bawling their eyes out. Not Shreya. She set her little face into a mask, and took of running to her tiny little corner of the temple, to talk to, well, herself, and her tiny Lakshmi icon.

"Steady yourself, find your center, Good Anditya. Calm your mind Esha, you are too tense. Good, watch Shreya, see how the power flows around her and within her"

The lesson ended quickly, and Shreya, now seven and with the young gifted, rushed off to her cubby.

Not quickly enough to escape the elder boys from the group. "You little cow! You must be stealing to power from us."  
"I, I don't know what you mean"  
"You will address me as Isa(lord), brat"  
"Isa, I do not know what power you mean"  
"Before SHE came we all could please the Priests, now its as if everything we goes wrong"  
"yeah! She is nothing but a wretched paper child"  
"Bleach white"  
"She's bad luck, you know that."  
"She doesn't need a name like Shreya, she's like"  
"a curse"  
"no, curse is power, she's a JINX!"  
"Ha-ha! yes A Jinx. Jinx jinx"

ah, a horrid nickname. And so, this continued every day, a constant taunt after every lesson she excelled in. Until they pushed her too far.

"Stop... leave me... leave me ALONE"

Straight from meditation, her powers were called to the surface already. Unleashed, they exploded outward, parts of the walls, ceiling and floor flew everywhere, stunning a good half of the students within her range, the other backed away, cowering.

None were more terrified than the small girl. There were tears in her rose colored eyes, and she clutched tight to her statue of Lakshmi.

It was not a good time. The power she had unleashed scared young Shreya more than anything before.

She grabbed her belongings (an ivory knife, and a few goddess statues wrapped in a bedroll.) and ran, to consult the priestess of Sarsvati.

On the way to the temple, she was waylaid by a member of the Thuggee, who had been watching all the temples for promising children.

She felt a hand covering her mouth and gasped in spite of herself. However, Shreya was small and exhausted, just trying to get to the shrine to beg the goddess for help. The man spoke roughly to her at first, but softened after she went weak and agreed to follow him.

"I have seen you. Have seen what those children do to you. They are not worthy of your talents, your beauty"  
Shreya had never thought herself pretty, not at all like the girls she saw coming for weddings, or even the street girls, with their dark complexions and beautiful flowing hair like the waters of the Ganges at night. So this statement stunned her. Taking advantage of this the man went on.  
"They call you Jinx, attempting to make you feel as if outcaste among them. Do not let it harm you, take the name with pride. I know of one who will teach you in ways the priestess of Lahksmi know not of. They will never laugh at you again"

This was so much for her, and she was so tired, the young girl did not fully comprehend it. But she knew, no one would ever laugh at her again, and that was all she could hope for. "Take me to her"

The thuggee complied whisking her to a shrine near the outskirts, where the fearsome and beautiful form of the Kali Durga was to be seen. Shreya took to her knees, bowing her head to the floor in respect, thanking the Goddess for her gifts and saying she would serve her "As ever you will me to, should I learn the control of my fearsome talents"

When the devotion was done the man cleared his throat and beckoned to her, urging her to step past the altar, where the ground was a bit lower. He lifted the cloth and gestured to her, and the young girl gasped at what she saw.

Stairs led downwards into a basement room. One normally did not have a basement room; negative energies could not be cleared.

Soon Shreya knew why.

The center of the room was an enormous statue of the Durga, and draped across a pair of her fiery arms was the body of an outcaste, his throat slit, the blood dripping down into a carved floor, which brought the runoff to a drain. This was a sacrificial chamber. Shreya smiled so wide she thought her face would be bent out of shape when from behind the bleeding man an enchantingly dressed Priestess emerged.

"You are the Jinx child, yes?"  
"Yes Master."  
"Good, you are to be my successor then?"  
"Yes master, if you will it."  
This woman was Kali herself, or as close as a human can become. The priestess taught her more about her powers, and secrets that cannot be divulged here. Eventually, after three years, Jinx was brought to the alter herself; the sacrificial dagger was loosely placed in one of the many hands of the goddess. A gong was rung five times that shook the room. But the dagger did not fall, this was the sign that Jinx was no sacrifice, but rather a priestess of Kali Durga. To claim the position, she would have to face the ultimate test.


	2. Shreya is dead

After what seems like an age, I am continuing

Again, I do not own teen titans, this story is my own, up until we get to the show elements, which I have yet to reach even in the draft process.

Thank for the reveiws, guys.

* * *

"Why, why am I to do this? Why, by Kali and Shiva, do I have this fate?" 

Jinx had been told now that she was to slay her mentor and take her powers, as a chosen envoy of Kali herself.

"You come from a long line of our people, devoted followers of the Lady."

Her last day that she would spend in her disguise, the last time she would have to pretend to be like the novices of Lakshmi's temple. She had wrung them dry. But why? She deserved to know why she faced this challenge.

"Your father was a great man, Shreya Ila, in the name of his Goddess; he had slain at least a dozen men who had so wronged our people. You are the last of his line, and blessed to carry out Kali's will on earth. You have learned all that we can teach you, it is time you go to a greater teacher. I will soon dance like the Nataraja in the flames, and then you will take those who have wronged you and they will serve you as only the dead can. Now, prepare yourself for the final lesson, Jinx-once-Shreya."

With that, both bowed respectfully in the ritual chamber of the shrine, pulling out their daggers and blessing their mission.

The dance of life began, each in the practiced movements of combat signaled by the slightest movement of the foe.

Step by step they fought across the room, two images of the Goddess, Maiden and Crone. The young girl had the advantage here; within the earth her powers were easily called. Her heart pounding furiously, the rush of blood in her ears, as tiny bits of dust and rock came to distract her foe.

"For my honor."  
Using the cat like agility given at birth, honed by training, she had come behind her teacher, and now held her dagger at the jugular.  
"For my family"  
Unnatural strength brought the pair to the fire at the base of the statue, the blade pricked the skin as a tiny jewel formed glistening in the dim light.

"For my Goddess."

The final slash, the life's blood cascading into the fire with a hiss, tossing the dying form into the fire, writhing in silent agony.

Jinx stood now in the silent chamber, the stench of burning hair and charred flesh filling her nostrils. "Kali who has graced me with gifts, may your servant's sacrifice this day empower me to do your will."

For the second time in her life, Jinx felt the heat of invisible flames overtake her, and she fell screaming to the ground, as the power coursed through her.

"Shreya"

The burning pain had gradually faded to black, and when the young witch awoke, it was in a dark place where an overwhelming sense of power enveloped her.  
"Shreya, do you know who I am."

The voice shook her body, but Jinx showed no fear. Though she could feel the tremendous power, it was a benevolent force. One she knew well, from her dreams and visions.  
"Kali, I am humbled in your presence"

For before her now stood the consort of Shiva, in all her terrible power. So close she could hear the garland of skulls clink against each other, see the faces of the unborn children that dangled from her ears.  
"You have been chosen child. All who know you as Shreya must come to my realm. That name shall belong only to my lips"

Upon which the long crimson tongue was lolling. Jinx agreed that her Goddess given name would remain sacred, and was then told her purpose

"A child was born not long before you, whose father was of the daemon kind."

Kali paused for it to sink in. Jinx was astonished, a halfling? A daemon child borne of a human was taboo, something not meant to exist at all.

"Her father and I have exchanged favors, and the interaction is to be complete though the daughter, one called Raven."

Jinx was beginning to understand what she would be doing.

"She must live, though many will attempt to keep her from fulfilling her part of the bargain. You must watch her, protect her without her knowing"

Jinx was then imparted with the knowledge of Trigon and his ill born daughter, through much of it was sealed away for the time being.  
All she needed to know now was that her town was to die.  
And she would be honored to be its executioner.

"Shreya where WERE you! The festival is starting and our year is on our last test, we get our positions if nothing goes wrong" blah, blah, blah. Does this girl ever shut up? Sure, it was important to pass her last trial as an acolyte, but Jinx had bigger things on her mind.

"Sorry, it's so important, I wanted to ask a few other Deities for help." It wasn't exactly a lie, she did visit every shrine, and today was very important. Today was the beginning of Dussehra, a ten-day festival in honor of Durga. Slipping out of her work sari and into the new silk of her ceremonial garb, Jinx sighed, thinking over all the practice that had gone into preparing herself.

"Your powers are based on luck, you affect probability, and you are more or less Murphy's Law incarnate. Make anything that can go wrong, go wrong."

The festival was to take place near a cliff side this year, and she was to be the one to toss the effigies into the flame. Shreya was descended of Behram, who had killed at least a hundred men with his bare hands. As the procession started, she began the breathing. She had to wait until the entire town was beneath the cliff face, wait for the fire to be lit.

Waiting was not her strong point, and the very second she was sure none has escaped she sent her powers out. Questing through the ground, they sawed at the rock, and weakened the cliff. As Jinx felt the powers take hold of her, she smiled. Rock began to shift and crumble, but the village had packed itself into that small area. No one noticed it over the chatter. Jinx bolted as the first bits of rock came down, her part was at the end, so she had been apart from the rest, and the only one who was able to sprint to safety before tons of solid rock came crashing down. She heard a voice call out, at the edge of the ruble, one of the teachers was calling to her, crushed under a large rock.

"Shreya, help me" The man called out, coughing blood, wailing.

"Shreya is dead, and you've just fallen victim to a lot of bad luck." The pink haired witch said with a sinister smile. Who knew being bad could feel this good?


	3. Two schools

Revised version of this chapter, becuase I didn't like the plotholes it left before. Thanks to those who pointed them out, hope I made this lackluster chapter a bit better this time around.

All characters copyright their respective owners. Plot elements created by author unless otherwise specified.

Hindu and Sanscrit spelled phoneticaly.

* * *

"So now what, I go to Kalkatta, the one place where a female can have divine visions? If you say so."

Jinx had a bundle containing a few blankets, two spare saris and all the money she had managed to scavenge from the wreckage. Using that, her own knowledge and her uncanny appearance, she managed her pilgrimage to Kalighat, the temple of Kali in the city now known as Calcutta. She took a place there where many other women served. It was not lavish, she served as any poor woman, but it was good. There she celebrated the Kali Puja, but as the ceremony was finished, she was taken from the temple by policemen. When she was taken into custody, Jinx was outraged.

"How DARE you treat me like a common Dacoit! I am a servant of Kali!" She removed the garlands of flowers from her hair, which had been plaited, and not cut for several years, so it cascaded down her back causing the men, British surely, to gasp at its hue. Jinx, despite being one fourth Brit herself, and fluent in English, the loyalty to her country caused the prejudice to form very early.

"I will not be confined like a criminal!" The men would hear nothing of it, and insisted they had proof of prostitution at the temple, in which she had been a part. Of course, there had been no such thing, but that never stopped them. Jinx hated the European cultures, no matter how much Guru had praised them, drilled their ways into her mind. It wasn't natural, there was no respect for the full cycle.

"I was raised better than that, good sirs, if you would accept the word of a midwife that I am pure, I will submit to such examination from a woman." Unfortunately, this wasn't enough; there had been trouble between the poor devotees and the Brahmin recently. Many of the women had been taken to assure things would calm down. Jinx, young and exotic as she was, was prime candidate to take as evidence of such a scheme.

Unfortunately, Jinx lost control after many accusations and taunts. She knew her family was Brahmin, she deserved much more respect. Outraged, she screamed, her power exploding from her body, bringing the building's walls down around her and the stunned officers. It was then it was decided that she was to be taken to America.

"There they have suitable containment for meta-humans such as her. They will rehabilitate her, perhaps she will even use her powers for good." They went on and on about how she could be out saving the world with proper training.

Hello, that's what I've been doing! Before she knew it, Jinx was on a plane to California.  
'Meta-human? I'm just as human as you. Maybe more so. Pigs.' Jinx spent the entire ride muttering insults in Hindustani, sometimes forcing herself to speak them in English. She knew very well that if she appeared to cling to her culture, they would take it from her. India had to remain her own, private.

"Welcome to Darkwave Prep, Jinx. We are very happy to have you with us; in fact we have a nice room all ready for you." A woman with bleach blonde hair and a skirt too short to be a belt was addressing her, bent over so everyone could see her implants.

"Let me guess, you made it pink?" Jinx was not impressed; she was ten years old, not five. She wasn't the oldest here, thank gods, but she was in the upper ages. No one there could be much more than thirteen. Looking around she noticed the perky slogans on the walls, the obscenely bight colored COSTUMES the kids wore. There was no other word for it; they were nothing like a proper garment. Capes and hoods and flashy gloves, not even the nice sundress style she had admired.

"Actually, its buttercup yellow."

"Got anything in gym mat grey?" Jinx shot back, amazed that her English was seemingly taken for granted. Hopefully they would have something dark or plain and soothing.

Of course not, she managed to get a room in a dull blue, after much wheedling. Darkwave was apparently a center for children with special abilities who had gone though traumatizing events. In theory she should fit right in. The problem was that she had to share her room with two other girls, who had a sickening obsession with Disney. Mena, who could project pictures on objects, was holed up in front of the VCR. Sasha, who could sense fear, was shouting at her about what movie to watch.

"Beauty and the beast!"  
"Cinderella!"  
"Beast!"  
"Cindy!"  
"BEAST!"  
"CINDY!"

"Shut up." Jinx slammed her history book shut. "How about we watch something we haven't already seen forty times this week."

Both of the girls stared at her as if she'd grown an extra head.

"Move over." Jinx pushed the feuding twerps out of her way and pulled out the first movie she did not recognize. If she had to sit through stupid American culture, she might as well see something new for a change.

"This one."

"Sleeping beauty? That one's **so** boring."  
"Yeah"  
Ignoring them completely, Jinx popped the tape in. After the complaining stopped, all three sat mesmerized for the whole movie. While the others were trying to make themselves a dress like Aurora, Jinx was fashioning a Maleficent headdress.

"Jinx, eww. Why do you want to be the creepy witch?"  
"She's not creepy, she's cool"  
"She's UGLY"

This continued for several hours, until Jinx went off too class wearing her new headgear. It clashed so much with her white sari, and she wasn't allowed dye, that Jinx was eagerly awaiting her monthly outing. She would spend all her pocket money on a new dress. Maybe she could get something black, or deep purple. Whatever it was, she wanted it dark. Dark like Kali.

Once she got to the market, Jinx asked around the shops for help. A girl who must have been seventeen showed her a few magazines, introducing her to a style called 'gothic Lolita', which she fell in love with immediately. She got herself a cheap purple dress and boots, and realized that her headdress made her hair stand up, which looked very cool. She kept the cheap clothes for a few months until she could afford a few nicer ones that went better with her new Taurus hairstyle. Jinx focused a lot of her energy into fashion, because everyone else at the school was worrying about helping people. They even went so far as to pretend they were heroes or something, rushing around the grounds, saving imaginary kittens from trees.

It was a while before she got the change of scenery she wanted, and she was so glad to be away from the goody goodies of Darkwave. At lucky thirteen, she was transferred to a new group, the Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People. Hopefully it would be a step up. The girls who smuggled her books from occult shops had only good things to say about it, so if they could be trusted, it would be good.

Day one in the Hive academy. Jinx was a bit nervous, the place was so big. And what if they expected her to go save the world or some such crap? 'I'm not one of those guys, I look out for myself. Justice my foot. Kali gives me my mission; I don't have time to save the world from itself.' But the headmistress's aid had assured her that she would fit right in. Clutching her books to her chest, she was escorted to her first class. History of Terror. What type of a school was this?

Puzzled, she walked into the room. It was a lecture hall, much as she expected. The class fell silent as she entered, staring and whispering. After a moment though, they went back to their chatter. Jinx observed the other students; they didn't look like superheroes, that was for sure. For on thing they all had better fashion sense. Was it an unwritten rule that to do 'good' you have to lose all common sense?

After a few moments, she was sure. "See, I nabbed it from right under that slug brain's nose." A rather short boy dressed in green was bragging, holding up a beautiful silver watch. "This'll be worth at least a new modem" The other boy, seeming much older than him, was grinning a bit foolishly. Seeing that the only empty seat was by the pair, Jinx made her way across the room, sitting down without a word.

"Hey, a newbie!" The short one seemed interested in bugging her. She should've known better than to sit in the front row. "What's your name? Cotton candy hair? Pink princess?"  
The larger one clapped him over the shoulder. "Don't tease her; she's just a little girl. Don't want to make her cry."

They had to stuff their faces into each other's shoulders to muffle the laughter. Jinx smiled, it wasn't the rude teasing she had known before, and no one was throwing things or using strong curses. But they would know she wasn't that easy to pick on. Grinning broadly, Jinx sent out her powers. The chair the larger one was on collapsed. "Geez Mammoth, lay off the burgers next time."

"That wasn't me!"  
"Right then, what was it?" still laughing, right until the backpack fizzled and sparked, shocking the goggle wearing boy.

"CRUD!"  
"Aw MAN Gizmo, that was classic, who did that?"

Well, her turn to speak up. "Name's Jinx. Looks like you boys are out of luck, aren't you?"

Intros followed; Gizmo, Mammoth, See-More, Kyd Wykkyd, Billy Numerous, and Bumblebee. With a simple prank, she had been accepted. 'Looks like I'll be fitting in here just fine' Jinx mused, quite glad to fit in somewhere for a change. The students all seemed to share one major thought, they had to look out for number one.

Soon it was revealed that her charge of guarding the 'gem' might be made difficult. Even though she was in the same city, Raven was trying to make up for the damage she would inevitably cause. This would put them on opposing sides.


	4. Field Trip Prep Part One

Yaay. Ok, I want you to know that once this gets to Final exam, it will become a new story. I know this chapter is short, but thats because the only places to stop are here and after they get to Gotham, and I'm not quite happy with that part yet. For those of you who reveiwed, you rock. FO rthose who didnt, SHAME ON YOU! Stanard disclaimers apply.

* * *

"Jinx!" Not noticing the call, the hex witch sat surrounded by books, door barred by the wardrobe she had pushed in front of it.

"Darksome night and shining moon, East then South than West then North."

"Jinx! Get out here already!" This time accompanied by harsh knocks on the door. Ignoring them, Jinx continued.

"Hearken to the witches' rune; hear me come to call ye forth. Earth and water air and fire, wand and pentacle, and sword. Work ye unto our desire, hearken ye unto our word"

"Pea brain, we have practice! We can't be late or else we might miss our shot at the trip!" "You are NOT making me miss the Gotham trip!"

"Cords and censor scourge and knife, powers of the witches' blade, waken all ye unto life, come ye as the charge is made. Queen of heaven queen of hell, horned hunter of the night, lend your power into our spell, aid us as we serve you right."

"That's IT!" A detonation blew the door off its hinges and Mammoth dragged Jinx out of the room. "Not gonna be LATE."

Grumbling all the way through the halls, the trio managed to arrive with a minute to spare. Glaring at Gizmo as she took her place, Jinx fired up her hexes.

3

2

1

GO!

Sprinting onto the course as the drones were released, Jinx called out "Delta formation!"

Designed for when they were significantly outnumbered, it relied heavily on teamwork. Floor panels dropped away to further throw them off balance as lasers fired. Using mammoth like a springboard, Jinx leapt onto the shoulders of one of the drones, placing a hand where she the control mechanism would be.

She had barely gotten the hex out before a laser sent her cart wheeling across the room. As the lasers followed her, Gizmo's missiles hit their marks, and Mammoth sent three drones crashing into a wall. Hovering mini mines descended, and the floors began to move at such a speed that Mammoth began to fall behind.

They had a minute left or they would fail the course. Gizmo was detonation the mines out of range, while Jinx hexed those too close.

45 seconds.

Crap. Mammoth wasn't going to make it. "Use the mines! Detonate-" Before Gizmo could finish his sentence, Mammoth had detonated the mine directly behind him, and the trio rode the force of the explosion across the finish line. And with twenty seconds to spare.

"Excellent" The robed executive congratulated them. "Outstanding teamwork, you three will join the Gotham outing this weekend"

"Sweet!" Gizmo and Jinx exchanged a high five before Mammoth caught them up in an overbearing hug. Gizmo fought it, as usual, until the nuggie came, and then he yelped like a dog that is tail had been trodden on. Jinx was still rubbing her arm as they made their way out.

"Happy Gizmo? Now you have to fix my door. And remove your cameras. I'm sick of disabling them."

Those things had been bothering her forever, especially since there were other cams than the standard issue. Luckily, the Hive dorms shared bathrooms. That was the one place there weren't cameras. Not for legal reasons, more to protect the school from hormonal females.

"Jesus Jinx! How did you find those" Gizmo didn't seem the least bit disturbed that she knew, mostly because Jinx would only kill whoever BOUGHT the photos, not those who profited from it.

Rolling her eyes, Jinx replied "Uh, Magic?" As if any idiot could have known she was going to say that. Because they would have. "Electrical synapses in the brain, easily able to detect transmissions within a certain area. Should've taken that mechanics of magic seminar. Now, like I said" Her humor turned to a growl "Fix my room. Three months till exams, and I need to study." Whoa, had it been two years already? Might not seem like much, but in that time she had grown so much. Two years of classes in three months. It was the Hive record.

'Well I did have help on that, between Kali with my powers and Gizmo's direct downloading program, I didn't have much studying to do.' She thought as she made her way to the sauna. The steam loosened her muscles and allowed her to relax. Funny how the girls of the Hive rarely spent much time together. They had their rooms in the same corridor, and shared the baths, but gender didn't seem to matter. Your team was your friends, your family.

Sure, she gossiped with them on days out, or when they happened to be in the hot tubs at the same time. Heck, that was how she had learned about Gizmo's crush on her. That had been an interesting day. One of many, she had really gotten to like it here.

'Just don't you forget why you are here'

The sudden voice made her jump. Whirling around in the steam, Jinx could make out the naked form of her goddess. After a salaam, Jinx stared reverently at the embodiment of destruction.

"Kali Ma, my Lady, how could I forget. I give puja daily and never neglect my meditations. Your sacred flames cleanse me each night. And I watch for the daughter" Trembling the sorceress stumbled over the words, hair falling into her eyes. The laughter of the goddess laughed a sound both terrible and full of joy.

"She is here now, now he name shall be unlocked for you are in a position to watch over her now. Nursemaid to a girl older than you, and more powerful, maybe. Hilarious, is it not?" Jinx searched for words that would not reveal her confusion but was cut off as Kali lay a hand on her brow. "Remember," she commanded, and with that, she vanished, leaving a very confused teen behind.

* * *

Ok, reveiw. Or else I might not post any more(yeah, right). Even if its a flame. flames make me write with a firey rage. COmpliments make me write with a fire of joy. So REVEIW IT.


	5. Field Trip Prep Part Two

This chapter seemed way too short, but thats probably because its a three part chapter, I guess. The final part of the trip preperations will be very long, trust me. I've got some fun things cooked up, and after the Gotham trip this part of Jinx's history will me done. So, when they return from Gotham, this fic will be done and the sequel will begin. Thanks to those who reveiw! For those who asked, yes, I do support the adorable Gizmo/Jinx.

"Jinx!" Oh not again. Why did every conversation start with someone calling her name? "Hey Jinx! Did you eat my steak?" Oh, Mammoth must have checked the fridge. Head hitting her desk, she let out a groan.

"Mammoth," she growled, stalking across the warehouse she and the boys had bought with their personal cut of the heists. "For the last time. I. Do. Not. Eat. Beef! Your steak went bad when a certain _genius _killed our power. Why didn't you just _pay_ for it?"

Gizmo snorted from across the room. "Looks who suddenly has morals. Plus, I got it back."

"I have no morals, what I have is common sense. The academy doesn't even know about this place, why draw attention to it?"

"So…" Oh here it came. Get your own food for three months, and now you have the guts to ask. "Why don't you eat beef anyways Jinx? It's really good."

Jinx was saved having to explain by a disgusted grunt from Gizmo. "Do you have no sense of cultural customs you snot head? Jinx is Hindu, you lead headed fool. The cow is SACRED. You don't-" the device he as working on sparked, "Eat" Spark, "sacred" spark, "Animals"

Well that was one way to put it. "You boys packed yet? Oh this trip is gonna be great for the gals."

Gizmo and Mammoth exchanged confused looks. "We packed ages ago. But why just the girls? This is gonna be a great trip for us too, dummy"

Head-desk. Honestly, do the even pay attention? "Besides the other hive girls, what female villains are there in Jump city?"

Mammoth grinned. "Just you girl, so?"

"So, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy," Jinx paused before the last name. Practically her idol. "Catwoman. Rama, but she is incredible. I have to meet her. Gotham has females who rule the night. Gold mine of role models for us."

The boys shrugged. "I just want to see the real deal, not this petty crime. A gang war, maybe a murder or something." Gizmo had his arms crossed and Mammoth was frowning, apparently they didn't like her speech. Boys.

Checking her watch Jinx cursed. "Class in twenty minutes, lets get back. We may be the top students, but we still have to attend."

Bolting the doors and activating the security system, they ran through the docking district and to the run down area that housed the first alleyway of the passage to the HIVE.

Once they were close enough to catch their breath before entering, Gizmo disabled the device that jammed the signal from their com units. The headmistress wouldn't check their signals, but better safe than sorry.

"Jinx, you should hit the library, Mammoth the weights and I'll blow something up in the lab, to throw off suspicion." Gizmo took charge of their cover, as usual.

Later that day in class, a ridiculous one truly. Mathematics in doomsday plans. Everyone knew her squad were cat burglars hoping to be upgraded to assassins. Large scale villainy was more suited to those with ambition, like the omni delta squad. It was good to know the theory but still, what use did she have for it? 'That's what I get for letting Gizmo pick my classes this year. Should've taken the math course for astrology calculations, even if I never use that nonsense.'

"Jinx" An elbow in her side brought her out of her thoughts. "Jinx, would you care to answer the question?" Crud, daydreaming in class.

"Might you repeat the question so I can be sure I understand it correctly?" Oh, real smooth Jinx. Sighing the professor repeated.

"In plots involving unstable chemical substances, the most common mathematical errors are in the calculation of what?"

A question she actually knew? What luck! "Probability" Jinx answered proudly.

"Correct, for the bonus point, what is the most common mistake?" Uh oh. Luck has run out. But, Gizmo seemed to know, judging by the hand that was waving around in the air.

"Gizmo seems to know sir."

Before he was called on, the smallest member of her team began to speak "Most errors in calculating probability occur due to an underestimation of the actual number of such occurrence, usually due to ignorance on the part of the mathematician involved" Jaws dropped, and Jinx had to smirk. Gizmo hadn't even looked up from his palm, and was typing furiously. "By the way, reconfigure the security encryption for your grade book, I cracked it again" That made the third time today, how did he do that?

The embarrassed instructor looked down. "Yes, very well, I see you have this class down well enough for your entire squad. Team Alpha dismissed, prepare for the trip, there will be quizzes on your outings." After exchanging high fives all around the trio split to make for their dorms. This would surely be an interesting trip.

The executive eyed each student suspiciously as they loaded their bags into the storage unit of their craft. Each team was given a small HIVE capsule ship. They would have to pilot themselves to Gotham, though there were executives in the main vessel to take control if anything went awry.

Mammoth was flying the first shift, since it was just to Steel city. Gizmo got leg two, the most difficult stretch, passing over a military base and several paranoid towns. Jinx herself got the last spot, bringing them safely into Gotham. It should have been an easy enough trip.

Should have been.


	6. Why you little

...After Lightspeed I just have to say - WHAT DID I WRITE? Jinx likes her respect, she doesn't likr being looked down on, you tease her she'll rip the chair out from under you! They portrayed the same sarcastic, dont piss me off, take charge gal I did. Wally and Jinx? Why not. So long as Jinx puts up a hell of a fight for her reasons for not being good, its possible. And so long as Wally doesn't decide to be all pimp like someone ELSE who tried to rip out her heart and stomp on it.

* * *

"Welcome to Gizmo Inc. airlines, this is your captain speaking" Rolling her eyes, Jinx stretched out on the bench like seat for passengers, for this leg it was hers. 

"In the event of an emergency we would like to remind you that-"

"That you're goin' down since Giz here forgot jet packs for the rest of us"

Jinx looked up from her magazine, not amused. "You're kidding, right?" She asked, eyebrow arched.

"Heh heh, You see, actually…" Gizmo was already looking for a place to run. Not easy in a ship barely bigger than a minivan. Well, it wasn't like it was cramped or anything, and they didn't exactly need much room, all they were doing was flying in it anyways. But still, small ship.

"Why you little.." Making ready to throttle the midget, she sprung from her seat just as they hit a bit of turbulence, causing her to end up sprawled on the floor. Before she was ready to do a class A Homer Simpson on him, Gizmo yelped and started gesturing defensively.

"I have copters for you, not as good as jets but I cant afford the extra fuel."

Right, so the thief with enough black market contacts to make any smuggler jealous couldn't get a hold of a bit of jet fuel?

"Uh huh, so of all that money we stole, you have none left? What did you do, spend it all on porn?"

Mammoth guffawed, shaking at the controls. Gizmo look shocked, almost mortified. "Why in the moons panties would you think that? What do you take me for, some pit sniffin-"

"Teenaged boy? Yeah, I do. Now go copilot. I have devotions to attend to. It'll be at least six hours before we stop, right?" Mammoth grunted in agreement. "Right, ok, I'm gonna make a new pocket dimension. If you're going to ask, ask me later. And don't you DARE bother me." With that she shut the door to the passengers compartment and took a seat.

"Om, mani, padme, hmm" The chant vibrated though her body as she focused her energy on first shielding, then calling the quarters. Opening her chakras and pulling a piece of her mind apart from the rest. Molding it so it could hold physical objects, creating a link to the physical, it was very difficult and she was sweating. After many hours, Jinx was left with a shapeless blob of something silvery. Exhausted, she thanked the quarters, grounded and centered herself, and banished the circle. Too tired to even test her creation, she stuck the blob in her sock, feeling the buzz of magic against her skin. Laying her head down, she was asleep in an instant.

Awoken by a rough shoulder shake as they set down outside of steel city, Jinx groaned and rolled off the seat.

"Oof!"

Mammoth wasted no time in taking her spot, and Jinx heard him start snoring as she slid the door to the cockpit closed.

"So," She began sliding into the copilots seat "What do we have here?"

"Radio contact, radar mapping, heat sensor display, GPS system, fog generator" Gizmo was pointing to various monitors on her side of the control panel. "Emergency override, SOS, Cloaking device, infrared sensor, ultraviolet sensor..."

"Wait, ultraviolet Wont it just show a giant blue? We _are_ in the air, you know" It seemed a waste of recourses to Jinx. Ultraviolet sunlight would render that useless, and how many devices gave off ultraviolet anyways? Or rather, anything that could be revealed by ultraviolet.

Gizmo started up the craft and got them into the air before explaining. "These days a lto of craft use infrared detection, cloaking yourself in ultraviolet removes you from those scans. Since radar isn't always accurate at close range, some people will trust infrared more. The ultraviolet sensor doesn't use ultraviolet, rather detects pure sources of it. Basically it's a sneak alarm Activate cloaking device"

Jinx's head was spinning, although it made sense when she was able to wrap her mind around it. Gizmo's tech talk always confused her. "Jinx! What the crud, cloaking device"

"Right, sorry" Snapping out of her daze she slipped her headset on and flipped on the cloaking device. "Hey, Gizzy, what does this do anyways?"

"Scrambles sound waves so that a radar program would see us as something like a flock of birds" Gizmo didn't even look up until he had full digested her question. "Did you just call me Gizzy? What the crud! I don't go around calling you Jinxy!"

She gagged. "And you won't be starting. 'Jinxy' sounds like the kind of name you would give a poodle, those stupid, fluffy-white, pain in the asses. Gods, I HATE poodles, in fact-"

" 'I hate dogs'" Gizmo finished for her "You give this speech once a week, I know already!"

About half an hour of silenced passed, Jinx glancing at a magazine now and then. "Picking up a slow moving craft several kilometers below us ET for crossing twelve minutes" She reported, scanning the screens "Speed consistent with commercial flights, above average size." Gizmo didn't seem phased, and continued at the controls. The weather wasn't ideal for flying, it looked like it might even storm. Jinx quickly scanned the list of scheduled flights for their friend. "He's not on our list, but the weather can account for that." Gizmo nodded then gulped.

"Might want to put the pen away Jinxy, gonna be a bumpy ride" Before she could scold him for using that disgusting addition to her name, she was thrown out of her seat as the winds picked up and the craft had to tilt at a forty five degree angle to keep in the air. There was a thump followed by a string of curses that must have been Mammoth, which broke the tension in the cockpit and both Gizmo and Jinx burst our laughing.

"Glad you two found it funny" Mammoth growled, peering in. "Coulda warned a guy, I was sleepin!"

"Well now we know how to get yer lard butt up in the morning, flip your stinking bed" Gizmo smirked.

"Attention HIVE students. Weather conditions dictate that those flying over safe zones must land immediately. Those for whom landing poses more risk than braving the elements are to continue until they reach an adequate landing zone. Do not attempt to finish the trip until the situation improves. This is a direct order." Even before the executive finished speaking, Jinx knew this to be a test.

"Justa few more miles till we can set down" Gizmo muttered "This is gonna set us back We'll lose a whole day at this rate Cruddy weather, cruddy rules" They were at the point where Jinx would take over. "Right, I'll take this piece of crud down, we'll star up in the morning"

Jinx grinned "No you're not. Move out of the way, its my turn" She literally picked Gizmo up and took his seat.

"Jinx, this isn't good, the rules say…"

"Rules were meant to be broken, Mammoth. I don't want to miss a minute" Jinx was piloting without a care in the world. "Look, if you don't like it you can go tie yourselves up an say you couldn't stop me" Beaten by a girl? Ouch, even if it was Jinx That's hut them up.

A few hours passed in silence before Jinx turned on the radio to catch the news. "In other news, the Brotherhood of Evil has once again foiled the Doom Patrols efforts to stop their plans of conquest. In recent confrontations it has been reported that Madame Rouge has mysteriously been absent…" Jinx burst into laughter.

"Ten to one says she was there all along disguised as some scared kid, and they never even noticed." Mammoth and Gizmo shuddered.

"She gives me the creeps, Jinx. Why do you think she's so cool?"

Jinx rolled her eyes. Did those two ever pay attention? Did they not notice the women always pulled the seriously smart moves? Rouge never stayed caught long enough for anyone to get anything out of her. The HVE only had one real video of her fighting to study, the rest were little more than surveillance tapes. Of course, Jinx realized, they wouldn't care, they had no ambition. Nothing to prove. Jinx made a vow then and there that once she graduated she wouldn't work with these idiots. Sure they were good friends, but they proved time and again that she was far above the average HIVE student.

'I'm going to surpass every villain ever known. They'll never even find the bodies, there wont be any blood to prove anything. I'll be just like my Da and his parents before him. Only unlike Da, I wont need a whole mob, and I won't get caught. I'll be above the law, because they won't have any proof. No body, no case' Smiling as she soundlessly transformed the craft to a ground vehicle, and turned on the hologram, she turned back to her two lackeys. "We're here. And Since we have a few hours to spare, I have a little outing for us"

* * *

I had to include Rouge sometime, and I am so glad I didn't finish this chapter before lightspeed, since Jr high in the hive is over after this trip. So, for those of you who asked, NO they wont meet any heros, this is a feild trip, not a mission. Jinx will be vissing a gambling den, and nearly end up on the bad side of a maniacal villian. Suggestions for who should run the place, and how they realize she's cheating the cheaters. I may need to explain about Jinx's father. He was also a member of the local Thuggee revival, who unfortunatly got caught and suicided in prison three months before Jinx was born. I fyou don't know about teh Thuggee, just leave a reveiw and I'll either explain in teh next chapter to send you a link to a long, detailed text involving interveiws with some of the last Thuggee of the original incanation. 


	7. Mirrors, yay

Hey, sorry for the wait. read, reveiw, and enjoy.

* * *

"That is not fair!" Bumblebee was whining over room arrangements to one of the executives. Everyone knew it was useless, but she still felt the need to complain. "So Angie cant stay with Wykkyd because of gender, but Jinx gets to stay with Gizmo _and _Mammoth?" The cloaked figure repeated that the number of females to males meant that the three to a room arrangements left one female out. That didn't satisfy Bee. "So why did you pick her! We could have talked it over ourselves and picked someone you know." Bee had this problem, she wanted to be in charge, so she often made a fuss over taking orders. It wasn't long before the executive snapped.

"Perhaps maybe we chose Jinx because she can keep those two out of trouble without using force. Or maybe her vow of chastity had something to do with it. Or maybe, Miss Beecher, we were just trying to irritate you. Take your pick. And I suggest you take to your room, you have an outing tomorrow, bright and early."

But dear me, we lost a few hours in here didn't we. Lets rewind and see how the trio spent their afternoon, shall we?

Three hours earlier.

Jinx was dragging the boys behind her through a rather unsavory part of the town, ignoring their protests. "How do you know your way around here?" Mammoth finally asked. "I don't" Jinx responded, making another turn. She had been using the sign language of the street thieves, one that knew no country. 'Dice, cards, where?' It was a subtle art, and she wasn't the most skilled in reading it. Still, she got her response. 'right 3 left stair, lily lion' So three blocks down after a right turn the stairs are on the left, and the lily sign to get in. Easy enough.

"Where are we go-AH" Jinx had clapped her hand over Gizmo's mouth and opened her palm to show a few pieces of uncut jade. "I'm going to roll the dice and double our pocket money." The boys eyes widened, Jinx was going gambling? But she was, what, just over fourteen? How would they even get in? "Now shut up till we get in"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Jinx tapped out the morse code for lily on the door. A slight click was heard and she proceeded to tap out 'L-i-o-n'. The door slip open a few inches and the thieves cant began. 'You have money, big stakes?' The thug signed. 'jewels, coin' She replied in the same method. 'Armed?' Jinx jerked her head ever so slightly to Mammoth. 'guard' Two blinks later the door opened just long enough for Jinx to pull her stunned team inside.

"How did you -do- that?" Gizmo asked, admiration evident. "I mean, I caught the morse code and a hand sign, but how did you know?"

"My dear Gizmo, when you spend a year of your life hitchhiking through slums, after being raised by thieves, the subtle signs become elementary."

Letting them digest that, she had never told then much about her past, Jinx left them to wonder. Jinx made her way to the roulette. In the cloudy room, no one saw the slight flash of pink that accompanied her wins. She made sure to lose a bit as well, and soon realized how draining this was to keep up. Stepping away with her winnings, she cashed them in and went to wash her face. Once out of sight she removed one of many cheap hand mirrors she had hidden on her person. Stepping on it she shuddered as it powered her. It was like caffeine for her magic.

Hours passed, and soon people stopped betting against her. Her handful of gems had her up to almost ten thousand before someone spotted her powers. Jinx didn't realize until half the room was eying her that she was found out. Gizmo and Mammoth had been blowing their cash at the bar, Gizmo was totally hammered, Mammoth not much better. Swearing in terms to make a sailor wince, she smashed the remaining mirrors and started hexing everything in sight. She was able to drag the two stooges away as the first bullets started flying, and Mammoth had the sense to activate a forcefield to hold them back while the ran for their lives.

Twelve blocks later, winded and panting, Jinx collapsed on the ground in a fit of giggles. Man would she be feeling this one in the morning. "That was **incredible**! No one will believe it, and I made ten grand! What a **rush**!"

Mammoth had to carry them to the motel, Gizmo passing out along the way.

Which brings us to where we came in.

"Cheer up Bee" Jinx laughed, still high off the broken mirrors, or else they likely wouldn't have even talked. "You don't gotta deal with whining, an if I'm in there ta kick there asses, nothin'll blow up, 'less I do it" Bee, Angel, and some of the other, noticeably few, girls immediately realized that in her current condition, Jinx would not be a good roomie.

Taking the key and dragging her teammates into the tiny room, Jinx claimed the obviously better of the two beds, tossing Gizmo into the armchair. That woke him up. Jinx was already searching through her things, ready to test out her pocket dimension.

"Whazzat?"

"Pocket dimension" Jinx proceeded to explain the concept to her lackeys.

Warning metaphysics and bullshit to follow.

A pocket dimension is essential a bubble of space time which can be used to hold large masses in a small area. It begins as a part of the mind used to hold memories incorporating all the senses. That is then combined with a miniature nova brought through time acceleration to become a dual black/white hole. This mental storage unit then must be charged with the essence of the physical through a ritual of bonding that requires envoys from the the four cardinal elements as well as a spark of both divine and demonic aura so as to provide the proper balance. Jinx had been lucky enough to capture a particularly malicious pixie for this part, the least dangerous form of demonic energy that could be found. Her own powers had sufficed for divine, and she had learned to call the quarters before her hair had first been plaited. After the space had been made physical, it was simply the matter of diverting the flows of energy within so that time wouldn't touch what she had put in there.

Jinx realized she'd likely lost Mammoth at space/time, Gizmo at essence of the physical. "Forget it. You two morons just let me get some sleep. And if you wake me before noon tomorrow, there will be hell to pay." Not waiting, she snapped her fingers, causing the light bulb to shatter. As the room plunged to darkness, Jinx slipped into a dreamless sleep, fully exhausted.


	8. I'm here for a mission

Hey guys. Sorry for the wait. Well, Titans together means I have my work cut out for me, doesn't it? Don't worry, I know how I'm gonna spin it. Reviewers get cookies, and I will read and review ANYTHING they ask (one fic per person) provided its in teen titans. yes, even if I can't stand a pairing in it ((like rob/rae shudder)) So review already.

* * *

"I'm gonna kill you all" Jinx moaned, slamming a pillow over her head. Her body was threatening mutiny after yesterday, muscles screaming bloody murder.

Unfortunately for Jinx, neither Gizmo nor Mammoth were showing any signs of the previous days exploits, and weren't about to stop. Gizmo was jumping on the foot of her bed, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Get up already! Stupid pit sniffin' girl! We got recon today! Student tours of the biggest creakin offices! Team with the most 'ringinal info gets ten points to exams! An the rest of the day off!" Of course, jumping on a bed while talking distracts a person, so it should come as no surprise that he slipped at the work 'off' and landed on top of Jinx.

Ten minutes later, as Jinx was drying her hair, he was still huddled in the corner. Because they were supposed to look as 'normal' as possible, she'd used brown dye on her roots and glitter hairspray to make her natural hair look artificial. She wore a 'sisters of mercy' band tee and that reached her knees, with fuchsia legging and black sneakers to complete the look. Kicking Mammoth hard in the back, she groaned at their choice of clothing. Normal, yeah, but crumpled jeans and plain tees? Not even the sense to express themselves, olive green and mustard grey gold. Pathetic. "Let's go morons. I'm not babysitting you forever." She led them out, having to take Mammoth by the ear to get him past the vending machines.

"Ok Giz, you have the cameras in the glasses, the heat sensor in the pen, the system tracker gloves, right? Mammoth, you're taking down the blueprints, and I'm on structural analysis and metaphysical monitoring. Remember, don't let anyone see the notes. We're on civilian names, so I'm JJ Murphy, Murphy for short. "

Jinx was not taking any chances, she was determined to beat out Bee, Angie and Wykkyd and with her being the only competent member of the team, the odds were not in her favor.

"Murphy."

"Beecher."

The fire was obvious in Bumblebee's eyes, and in Jinx's clenched fists. The two were the most ambitious in the school, but Bee was a bit of a teachers pet. They had been told if they were willing to team up, they could be the first duo team of graduates in the history of H.A.E.Y.P. And, if they had been able to overcome their similarities, they would've been the most sought after mercs in decades.

But instead, they were both pushing heir teams to the limits, which was better for the school in the long run. The tours themselves were boring. No, beyond boring, the only thing keeping her awake were her observation duties and keeping Mammoth awake.

"Baran." She whispered, prodding him along. "Baran!" A little louder this time. Nothing. It was like his brain was on autopilot. She shot a glance at Gizmo, who was typing like mad, taking notes. Well he would be of no help. Can't distract the midget when he's at work. So, better try things her way.

Jinx was done being nice, and stretched out to deliver a sound slap to the back of his head. "OW" Mammoth started, coming out of his daze.

"You idiot!" She hissed, eyes narrowed in anger. "You are supposed to be taking notes! I don't know what goes on in that melon head of yours, but I want to graduate. And that's not gonna happen if YOU KEEP DOING THIS!" Even though it was a whispered shout, it was still threatening. Lucky for Jinx, more so for the boys, that was the last incident for the day. Arriving back at the motel, the presented their findings. The count was close, but Jinx pulled them ahead with some last minute catches in foundation and ventilation flaws. With a satisfied smirk, she sauntered past Bumblebee "Better _luck_ next time"

The trip was heaven. But when they got back to Jump City, Jinx had to face hell.

She had been trying out DDR as a meditation technique when Kali called. Angered, because Jinx had just been getting into the game when the tug came, she made her way to the sauna. It was one of the few places where she could get some privacy, the winged girls avoided it, and no one else seemed to enjoy the heat.

Feeling the steam wash over her, Jinx settled into the trance state she needed.

"Milady, you called me?"

"None of that. No time for that. Your charge is in danger, a daemon eater is in the city, specifically for her. You have to bind it before it scents her. I've given you the last known location, now SCOOT!"

Grumbling, Jinx suited up, rummaging in her pocket dimension until she found a binding seal. "I'm taking a walk. I'll be back by curfew" Well, she hoped so.

Jump city in the evening, a pretty enough place, but the downtown area always made her feel out of place. Eye widening to accommodate the darkness, Jinx realized that the daemon eater could be anywhere. They can disguise themselves, except for the eyes. A cold silvery blue. Great, it's easy enough to hide eyes, what were her chances of success?

Low, very low. But she had to succeed. The daughter must be protected, so the father may be vanquished. She was running, slipping through the crowd, watching faces, trying to sense anything. Nothing, nothing, this was the location where was – Ah, there! Now she had to engage it on the astral. Pink eyes met piercing blue, the silent challenge issued.

A heartbeat later Jinx was struck with immeasurable pain. The fight was on, her soul now in astral form, the best in front of her. It was disgusting, like a misshapen wolf. Its head was enormous, huge dripping fangs and those eyes. Its body was covered in mattered fur, in shades from grey to brown. Again it charged, Jinx cart wheeling away at the last second to barrage it with hexes.

It spun, swiping her with a fisted forepaw. Rolling to her feet, she launched herself upwards, wave after wave of fuchsia energy issuing from her hands. Jinx knew she wasn't doing enough damage, this was big, and she needed to knock it out to use the seal.

The astral plane is a malleable place, substance coming from the minds of the inhabitants. The only way she was going to win was to make this into her home turf. She focused on the cliffs outside her old village, willing the land to take that shape. The grey mist gave way to the rocky terrain, but it cost Jinx her chance to dodge. She flew backwards into the rock.

Wincing as she stood, Jinx focused on maneuvering the beast under the cliff face. It was harder than it sounded; the thing gave no ground, just pursued relentlessly. Finally, she had it right where she wanted it. A tremendous hex hit the rock, causing it to crumble on top of the daemon eater, stunning it.

Not wasting a second, Jinx leapt atop the creature and used the seal. The white glow was so strong she had to close her eyes to keep from being blinded.

Opening them again, Jinx realized she was back in the physical, the daemon eater reduced to a stone figure with the seal on it. Picking it up, Jinx shuddered and slipped it into the pocket dimension. She would have it destroyed soon enough.

Aching all over, Jinx made her way back to the academy, and to the sauna. As she relaxed into the heat, she could have sworn she heard a distinct chuckle.

* * *

Well, what did you think? good? bad? Wanna strangle me with a ruhmal like a proper Thug? Well, tell me already. If you just read and don't review, I think you got bored and didn't even finish the chapter. So drop a review. It makes me happy. Even if it is a flame. 


	9. Exams, Graduation, and Slade, OH MY!

If I owned anything, I wouldn't be posting this here.

Now, I know I promised this sooner, but my songfics were deleted, even though I had permission from the artist to use the lyrics so long as I gave credit, which I did. Yes, I went and asked Candia and Tony if I could do that, and was given the thumbs up. So there was no reason to block my uploading. Sorry for it being late, but it is extra long, not that the delay had anything to do with that. Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner.

* * *

Graduations. Gra-a-a-aduation! Jinx was walking on air. Well, not literally, since levitation was beyond her. But she had never been happier. Finally, she would use her powers to earn her keep. A perfect mercenary with impeccable style. She was already writing her descriptions as she literally danced her way though the promotional training course run. 

Finally, she would get to be treated like a human being, not be tested on like guinea pigs, or patronized like bunny rabbits. She had so much energy, she was sketching like mad. An elegant Sphinx, looking over a peaceful town. A witch burned at the stake, her phoenix soul bursting from the flames. The ocean at moon rise, Undine faces peeking out of the crashing waves. But Jinx didn't realize that when teenagers complain that they want to be treated like human beings, its usually because they **are** being treated like human beings.

Some force of fate smiled on her, let her enjoy her bliss, her status as a graduate. Jinx just had to complete one assignment, then she could join the ranks of the Hierarchy. From what she had heard, mostly from the letters Mammoth's big sisters Shimmer sent, it was first class. Shimmer was a graduate working in Australia, and said it was easy, play a bodyguard, scare a gang into submission, sometimes just look tough to ensure a deal goes through. But her dreams would be shattered soon, when the first client placed his request.

* * *

We interrupt this fan-fiction to bring you a word from the Deity making it all possible. 

Now, you may be wondering how someone like our Jinx got to be such a key player in events that might change the course of human history. Well, she owes that to me. Allow me to introduce myself, Kali, embodiment of destruction, walker of the funeral grounds, Mother and Crone, who sees the end of all things come in its time.

Her family has served me for generations, many of them giving countless sacrifices to my name, at great personal risk, due to laws about so called 'murder' in their place of residence. All those who serve me well receive a blessing, but I gave her more than most.

Because of a bargain of sorts made long ago. You see, the demon Trigon has long been a nuisance to the Gods. Due to reckless, malicious actions on his part, I was overwhelmed by a blood lust that should not have been sated until all existence was destroyed. My beloved Shiva threw himself at my feet, and his cries of pain as my dance of death beat on him were enough to move me to come to my senses. It wasn't long before we discovered Trigon as the cause. He was locked into another dimension, forbidden any influence on mortals. Because we must allow him a method of destruction, which we had no right to do ourselves, Brahma decreed that if summoned properly, Trigon could for one night take a human form. The bonds that held him could only be broken by one of his own blood, and it was laid down that his own blood could be both his freedom and his demise.

I wanted him destroyed. So I had to make sure that his child was not only strong enough to defeat him, but motivated to see him fall. For that, I needed to have someone to watch the child and make sure nothing in the years leading to the coming of age went wrong. I needed a true daughter to prove that Kali needn't lift a finger to see that a greater demon lord met his end. I needed one of my chosen.

So, each time a child was born to Trigon, I watched. Most died within the first year, their own powers overwhelming them.

Then, Gotham's Angela Roth gave birth to a child strong enough. Angela's shame at the child's conception lead her to be distant from her child. Having sought sanctuary in one of Azar's realms, the story of the child's father had been muddled and twisted, completely losing the redemptive message. Raven, as she was named, grew up in solitude, rarely even touched for fear it might bring forth the demonic influence. When she was a few years of age it became obvious that her hatred for her father was more than enough to ensure she sought his destruction. But to make sure that she fulfilled the true prophecy set down eons before her birth, one of my own was needed to challenge her, keep her strong, and alive.

Many of my devotees had children of the proper age, but Sundar had given his life rather than betray his brothers in service. His only child deserved that honor more than any. Choosing what power to gift her with was simple enough. The ability to inflict bad luck is a skill with potential only limited by the mage's desire to learn, and by making the triggers mental rather than emotional, struggles with control would be avoided unless the user was under severe stress. Jinx learned so quickly, and no one can doubt her devotion. I have no doubt that she will watch over Trigon's child, to ensure his downfall.

Both girls have promise, Azar did well by that one. And I did well by mine. When her job is done, she will be allowed to stay if she wishes, or take up my service, traveling where she is needed.

* * *

We now return you to your regularly scheduled fan-fiction. 

"Destroy the Teen Titans. Then we'll talk."

Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth were assembled in front of the headmistress, their first mission details being given to them. "Slade Wilson has employed you to destroy the group of superhero's known as the Teen Titans. The individual members do not matter, we are taking his every word literally, remember. You are to disband the group, and I use the term 'group' loosely. Crush their confidence, remove all semblance of teamwork. You are to leave them alone and useless. That is all students."

The three H.I.V.E graduates exchanged excited grins. This would not only be easy, it would be fun. Quick whispers about the weaknesses of the members, their high value over civilian lives, and the beginnings of a plan were made.

"They hit the pizza place a lot. We can set up the trap there. Theres an incline nearby, easy for parked cars to 'accidentally' roll away." Gizmo put in, looking at the surveillance notes.

"From what I see, they need the walking traffic light to call the shots or they fall apart. We take out leader boy and we're set. Oh, but don't damage the belt, I want it." Jinx commented, examining her nails. This should be a piece of cake, it was as if the do gooders had never thought someone might attack THEM and not the city.

"I hope the put up a fight" Mammoth grunted, head in the fridge. "I wanna earn our money's worth in this"

You see, this was just a job to them. For Jinx, it was also a chance to test Raven. To see if she stood a chance against her fate. If they took her out easily, well, the world was in trouble.

"Gizmo to Jinx. Begin phase one" One hand cupped to her ear, Jinx grinned as she tossed a hex as the bus parked precariously on the hill. Just as it began rolling, the 'baby' set at the end of its course began to cry.

"Titans! GO!"

Jinx kept her groan to herself, but one liners that corny had to be delivered will full knowledge that they were corny. If you said them like you meant them, you looked lame. You had to play off the cliché factor of the line for it to be more than a dull attempt at wit. Waiting to spring the trap, she listened as they discovered what was wrong with the situation.

"Uh, don't buses normally have drivers?"

"And don't baby carriages normally have babies?"

Oh, this was too good. She could almost taste the confusion. This was going far better than she could have hoped.

"Are you pit sniffers normally this stupid?" Gizmo taunted, before his bear bomb did its job and sent those crowded around the carriage flying. Mammoth stepped in, slamming the bus on the remain two Titans. Dusting off their hands at a job well done, the trio exchanged pleased glances.

"That was too easy" Gizmo sneered. "What a buncha cludge heads. You guys wanna get pizza?"

Jinx was about to remind him that if he got sausage on it this time she'd have to hang him from a flag pole without his tech when the inaptly named boy wonder came back with a line.

"This isn't over!"

The tin can had managed to blast his way out as well, adding that they were just getting started. Please, this fight was finished the moment they fell for such infantile tricks as a false crisis. Just the fact they had done this much was enough to get them paid.

The fight went too easily, Jinx thinking the city was in a lot of trouble if these were its defenders. Two gone via Gizmo's rocket, how sad. Moving on, Jinx took on her charge in hand to hand, watching her technique closely. Pathetic. "You fight like a boy." She scoffed, allowing Gizmo a clear shot. Soon enough, a nod from Jinx cued a combo move that dropped Robin into a large chasm. Without their leader, the remaining Titans ran home with their tails between their legs.

The H.I.V.E is not without honor, when they fled, there was no pursuit. They didn't have to. Not much later they made their way into the tower. With the Titans without a leader, it was pathetically easy to split them up. Predictably, Jinx got the stupid one. "Here kitty kitty" She taunted, completely aware at how corny the lines were, that was the effect she was going for. "Whats the matter, afraid of the little bad luck?"

The fight was over far to easily for Jinx's tastes. It appeared the Titans were all washed up, literally. Well, they had the tower now, might as well make the most of it. First, to explore the bedrooms. Making her way down the halls, Jinx paused at the first door, slipping in without a second thought. Only to run out a moment later and collapse panting against the wall. "Too...much...pink." The next room gave off such an odor that she passed it by altogether. Ah, bird brain's room. Nice security. Too bad it never stood a chance. A few sneers later, Jinx was poking around her charge's room. Those clothes, disgusting. What, what is this book, a seal? Very strong binding, maybe she could loosen it enough to make whatever was contained aware of the world. Yes, not too difficult to manage.

Done examining the rooms, she moved to ops, overhearing Gizmo as she entered. "Slade's gonna have kittens when he hears we whipped the Titans _and _took their stinking tower"

Jinx grinned, after all, they had only been asked to put them out of commission for a while. "Not to mention Robin's favorite fashion statement" Jinx gave a quick pose to show off the utility belt. Nice. Looking at the cloak Raven preferred to any proper clothing, she sighed. "But thats the only thing fashionable around here. Uhg." Gizmo had started on the music collection, Mammoth on the fridge. Jinx ignored them, poking the cloak as if it were something green and slimy. "Does she have anything thats not blue?" She asked, looking into the mirror.

About then hell broke loose. In an embarrassing turn of events, the Titans regrouped and tossed our graduates into the local prison. Not before Gizmo could mention their employer, of course. But if the Titans hadn't beaten the boys senseless, Jinx did a good enough job. Not surprisingly, she managed to shift the blame so it fell on everyone but her. Unfortunately, the failure to get away cleanly, sticking around at the Tower was very nearly breaking orders, meant that though they had graduated, they would be required to sit though another semester of classes. After they got out of prison, that is. It would be three months before Jinx got out of that cell, and when she did she felt very much the hardened criminal she had been pegged as. Three long months unable to do more than ward via the astral plane. It could well have cost her everything. Luck had been on her side, this time.

* * *

Well now, I am a review , so review. Thank you to my dedicated reviewers, and check out Arresting the assassinsby shadow929.

And expect the next chapter to be in a style I love to write but have yet to publish. Jinx's whirling thoughts and vauge dreams, because season two sucked major for the H.I.V.E.


	10. Jail sucks

The Teen Titans do not belong to me. While the exact wording and any plot elements of this story not featured in the animated show do, I have no claim to the characters, settings, or episode remakes within it. Victoria belongs to me, but I doubt you will see much moreof her anytime soon.

* * *

Cold. Why was she so cold? She wasn't supposed to be cold.

It was dark too. Why was it dark? Her eyes were open, weren't they?

Yes, she could feel the heavy lids straining. Where was she, it wasn't her dorm in the Academy. Wait, the Academy, graduation, Titans….

Jail. She was in a jail cell. _"No, no, NO! I can't be in jail; I have to be out there, earning my karma back. Protecting the daughter, that's what my job is. They can't keep me here." _Awake and angry, Jinx tried to stretch, and grimaced at the clink of iron around her wrists. Iron, it seems someone was versed in the superstitions surrounding magic users. They all thought that if you put iron on the spell-caster, they would be powerless. All myths have some truth behind them; the truth of iron was that it was like oil and water. Magic simply slid away from pure iron. Magic cast at it, that is. Inherent magic like the aura of bad luck she gave off, not the powers she possessed but the charm on her person, **that** could slip through the cracks. But the shackles would hold her and interfere with any hexes she tried to throw, so until the natural energy got to work on rusting it away, she had to bide her time.

"Kali…" She rasped out, her throat dry from lack of use. How long had she been here, unconscious? Her eyes had started to adjust to the darkness, and she could see that the room she was in was more of a closet. Maybe five square feet at best. A small mattress on the floor, the door, and a disgusting toilet, that was the entire room. What kind of conditions were these? Best get to the bed, this floor was horrible, cold, ick, it was damp too. Crawling over to collapse on the lumpy mattress, Jinx was pleased to find her body hadn't gotten weak during the time she was out. _"I will not let them hold me. I am not some kind of animal to be locked away and gawked at."_ Examining the chain, Jinx lost all pretense of calm.

"AAAHHHHRRRGGGHHH!" She screamed, not caring who heard her. "YOU WILL NOT HOLD ME!" The chain clinked as she shook her fist at the door. "DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU PEOPLE WILL THANK ME! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO KEEP ME FROM MY CALLING!" She heard a snicker from outside, and went to look out the barred window of the door. It was another girl, she too in iron, in the cell across from hers. Definitely of African descent, her eyes were a deep green, and very large.

"It will not do any good, you know." She said softly. She had a deep voice for a female, but smooth. "They say you will be released in three months, but if no one comes at that time and demands you be freed, you will stay here forever. You've been here three days, have you only just woken?" She seemed to be trying to both comfort Jinx and resign her to her fate.

"Who are you?" Jinx demanded, eyes faintly glowing pink. "Why are you here?" Another thought crossed her mind, and before she could stop her tongue it was out. "Where did they take my boys?" My boys? _MY _boys? Why had she phrased it like that? She was responsible for them, yes, but she had never claimed ownership like that before.

"I am Victoria." The other girl replied, not at all phased by Jinx's harsh tone. "I can turn any liquid to poison and back again. I killed the foster family I was with. I've been here a year now." A full year? That was horrible, how could anyone endure that for so long? Ever worse, it seemed like she didn't even care anymore. Had she given up living? Was it really so bad here that there seemed no hope? She couldn't let that happen. No, Jinx had a mission she had to complete.

"I will get out. You can rot here, but I have work to do outside. Mark my words, Victoria, I will be back to make sure everything works out like it should. Now, where are we, and where did they take my dimwits?" Jinx was tugging on the chain, willing it to rust faster already. She couldn't do much if she couldn't move her hands more than ten inches apart.

"This is the Meta-human sector of Jump City penitentiary, minimum security, female wing. Your boys, is one real big, the other tiny, with a mouth like a truck driver?" Jinx nodded and Victoria sighed. "The big one caused a fuss, he's likely sedated, but they're both in the wing next to ours, if they didn't do anything to get themselves on higher watch. That chain isn't going to come off, and its 100percent pure, solid iron." She added, noticing Jinx fiddling with it. "No magic you aim at it is going to do any good."

"Good thing I'm not aiming it then." Jinx said with a grin. "There's a reason they call me Jinx. I control bad luck, true, but I also radiate it. This little thing shouldn't last more than a few hours with me awake to feed the aura." The other girl raised an eyebrow, skeptical, but shrugged as it to say 'suit yourself.'

This was getting her nowhere, however. She couldn't just sit there waiting for it to rust, but the only way she could do any good for the Daughter was on the astral plane. She couldn't to a conscious jump though, the iron saw to that. She'd have to work in dreaming. As much as she hated it, Jinx knew that her own freedom came second to the safety of the Daughter. "Screw this, I'm going back to sleep…" She muttered, as if she had given up. Victoria gave a sad smile and turned into her own cell.

Settling onto the bed, Jinx grimaced at the discomfort preventing her from sleeping. Had she gotten spoilt by the good beds at Dark wave and the H.I.V.E? She'd spent days sleeping on beds of gravel before, this should be nothing. Resolved to not be such a wimp, she slowed her breathing and let herself slip into dreaming.

Eyes opening to the scene of white mist, Jinx felt a slight satisfaction that she could still reach the astral while dreaming. It wasn't something she practiced much after she learned how to jump, so a bit of pride was allowed to slip through her determination. Ok, the tower. Her mind focused on Raven's bedroom. She had to keep her destination in mind clearly as she took that blind step, and not let herself get distracted. Raven's room, Raven's room. The slight vertigo was enough to let her know she had moved, and when her eyes refocused, she was inside the room. It was more or less how she left it. Good. Even better, it seemed no one in the tower was a Dreamer. She could check things here unobserved.

Probing with her mind, Jinx felt each of the wards she had set up around the room, they held strong, keeping the emotional signal of the half demon from reaching out of the room. Raven had set her own wards, but they were only set to keep things out, not in. More importantly, she had none keeping people out in the world of dreams. Jinx could set a shield, so if anyone but the caster entered the room through this medium, it would alert Raven to an intruder the same as if they had come in flesh. It wouldn't hold against the more powerful beings, but it would provide a bit of security to her own position. Jinx quickly began weaving the shield. She couldn't rush it, for fear of making mistakes, but the risk of being caught forced as much haste as was safe to employ. Soon, a weak shield was in place, and Jinx slipped out of the Dream and into true sleep.

The routine of the meta-human wing was simple. Wake, be taken to the showers, sedated, and have the iron removed. Then they were washed by an employee, redressed and the shackles were back. Next came breakfast, then one hour in a gym with the others. The first day, Jinx had made it clear to Gizmo and Mammoth that they were not to be seen as being a team any longer. She told them she would get out, and break them out on the way, but it couldn't be done if they suspected anything. Also, they had to make sure everyone thought she was helpless. Jinx played at being weak and broken, slowly gaining strength. The first month passed, and the shackles were beginning to rust. She could tell by the slight residue on the inside of her arms. No one seemed to pay attention though, they were far too confident in the iron. Jinx knew it was only a matter of time before she could snap them altogether, and weave an illusion of them to get her out of the cell. Once past that door, she would be able to get out no problem.

The second month ended, and Jinx was a bundle of nerves, the iron was getting so weak she could feel it; she was surprised no one noticed. Maybe one more day, then she could just pull at it and it would break. But first, she had to check her wards, still holding strong. Plans were made, so Jinx knew exactly what her process would be, planning for any problems she might encounter. If she was careful, she might be able to free Victoria and some of the others, which would be distraction enough to get her out of reach. Jinx highly doubted any of the guards were as fast as her, and her faux weakness would have them all caught be surprise. She was ready to kick some serious ass.

Time to begin operation 'screw the legal system.'

* * *

Written in class, self beta'd, on hours work, I feel like such a slacker. Check out "Reach the Horizonby KF fan" It sure as hell rocks. Review or I let net nanny censor my writing from here on out. 


	11. I need a shower

If you would be so kind as to understand that this chapter sucked majorly, and that I will likely edit it in the future.

* * *

Jinx felt the iron between her hands; it was weak enough that she was ready to begin. She had an hour before they would be coming in the 'escort' her to her shower. Peeking out of her door, she gestured to Victoria. "You ever get the feeling something big is going to happen?" She asked casually, leaning on the bars as she spoke. "There's this sense of waiting, like just before it rains and everything smells stronger." Victoria was no fool; she knew this was a warning to have her mind alert. However, the dark haired girl showed to sign of noticing anything odd about the speech.

"I rarely notice such things. Maybe I should pay more attention. Scents really _are_ stronger before rain? I'll keep that in mind." Jinx nodded at the response, it wasn't like they had worked out any sort of codeword, but between intelligent females getting a point across without mentioning the subject is second nature. Faking a cough, Jinx placed her foot on the chain, which gave way with no work. A quick pound against the wall shattered the bands on her wrists. Grimacing at the rust stains that now marred her arms, Jinx brought a hex to her fingertips, sighing with pleasure at being able to once again touch the powers of fate.

'_Now or never bad luck charm, lets get out of here' _Jinx nerved herself, then threw her energy into a solid hex that took out the wall. Alarms began to blare, but Jinx was already hexing all the cells in her way, grabbing onto the shackles of other magic users and rusting them away. Because of the way things started, walls just exploding like that,no one would know who masterminded this plot; mostly because no one knew but Jinx.

"CODE RED! CODE RED!" The shouts were coming closer, it was very likely that stun guns were going to be used here. Jinx was pouring so much energy through her body that it began to burn, but she kept moving. Three other girls were running in the same direction as she, and every one of them was taking as much time as they could afford to free others. "SECTOR THREE LOCKDOWN! REPEAT SECTOR THREE LOCKDOWN!" Jinx turned a corner and nearly ran right into a guard, throwing herself to the side and into a tumble. Shooting a hex over her shoulder, she kept moving. Up ahead was where Gizmo and Mammoth were being held, and if she timed it right…

"No amount of horseshoes are gonna help you now!" Jinx giggled, that's right, giggled, as she passed. Energy beams, hex waves, lasers, the halls were a flood of chaos. A crunching was heard as cells fell to pieces. Mammoth had just burst though a wall, and Gizmo was right behind him. They had to get to where the confiscated weapons were, if they wanted to make a profit off this stunt.

Three guards armed with stunners rounded on the group, shouting commands to freeze. Jinx took one look at the guns and shook her head; she knew this brand well enough to work with the defects. "Guys, run. Giz, get your gear and get out, I'll follow." She threw a hex at the ceiling above the guards. Both boys looked at her uncertainly for a moment, then turned to do as she said. One of the men launched himself forward to grab at her ankle. Jinx used her free leg to deliver a solid blow to the temple before back-flipping into a defensive stance. The stunners were aimed, but a carefully placed hex caused one to fizzle, the second was dropped when the man holding it got an elbow in his gut. Jinx was starting to tire, but knew that if she could hold out a few more minutes, she would be free to run. She swore silently in Hindustani when a jet of flame caught her skirt, climbing over rubble and through a broken window. The sheer amount of escaped criminals was astounding, Jinx hoped she had given enough distraction that Gizmo could get his gear and delete their records. If not, well, they had to have at least gotten out.

Shuddering as she crept though the rubble and into the parking lot, Jinx knew the only way out of here was to wait for an employee to leave. Well, the only way that wouldn't attract more attention. All the other prisoners seemed to have lost their sense and simply ran for their lives, climbing fences or tearing them down. Altogether, a very unwise choice. Most were already being escorted back to their cells. If her luck held, which of course it would, one of the day nurses would panic and try to get out of here before she was killed. Slowing her breathing to a steady rate, Jinx crept under a car, almost into the mechanics,ears perked for footsteps.

She sat there for a good twenty minutes, getting a good scare when a trooper looked under the vehicle. Carefully placed as she was, she still had to hold her breath so as not to be revealed. When the stomp of boots was long gone, and the click of high heels in its place, Jinx limbered her body to begin. Once the woman had gotten her keys out, she aimed a small hex at the shoe of her victim. The heel abruptly broke, and Jinx used the moment of distraction to leap from her hiding spot andplace a finger on the woman's temple. This caused a **severe** migraine to begin, and while the nurse was clutching her head at the light, she slipped into the car. Taking the keys and starting the vehicle, Jinx mentally chastised herself for never taking driving lessons.

"_Oh well, guess I have to find out if video game driving will cut it."_ She went slowly as possible, and held her breath as the machine roared to life. Good, now back up, slowly, slowly. Into gear, and lets take this nice and easy. A quick circuit of the parking lot aimed her at the gate, if not smoothly. Hopefully the unsteady driving would be explained by the chaos of recent events. But the gate, did it require a password, a voice command? Jinx paused at the machine that would open the first gate. 'Swipe personnel ID here.' Read the sign. Looking at the keys to the car, Jinx spotted a card attached to the ring. After a fumble to get it off, she swiped the card and breathed a sigh of relief as the gate opened. Easing the vehicle out, she took stock of her location. Hmm, she was a mess, oil and dirt everywhere. Perhaps the first thing to do is find somewhere to pull over that won't attract to much- there! Gas station.

Pulling into the station and parking the car, Jinx finally allowed the events of the day to wash over her. Shaking uncontrollably, tears of fear she held back and those of relief mixed on her face. She could have died about a thousand times today. Climbing into the back seat of the tiny sports car, she knew nothing for the next three hours.

"Miss," There was a tapping that woke her from her exhausted rest, Jinx gasped and searched for something to cover her identity. "Miss, are you all right in there?" an attendant was at the window. There was a duffel bag on the floor, it seemed the nurse who had this car was a gym fanatic. No one would think twice about someone who was always working out falling asleep in their car, right?

Grabbing a headband and slipping on the sweatpants, Jinx called out to the man. "Fine, just had a long day and didn't want to drive sleepy." A large yawn punctuated her response, and she thanked the auto industry for tinted windows. Hooded sweatshirt, hooded sweatshirt, tell me this woman has a hooded sweatshirt. Ah yes, pale blue. Oh well, have to make the most of what's here. She waited for a few minutes before slipping out the door and began to jog down the street. No one would notice that, right? _"When I get back to the academy, I am going to get into the shower and drown myself"_ She thought, as she found herself hopelessly lost and wandering areas of Jump City she never knew existed. Well, on maps she had seen them, but she couldn't call them up to help her right now. Jinx had relied far too much on her team in the past, she had to learn to just use them, not depend on them.

* * *

If you hated this, I'm sorry, I did too. If you liked it, whoa, you are easily pleased. Just drop me a review, but don't expect a new update too soon. This serious stuff is starting to weigh on me. This should be about the middle of season two, if I timed it right... 


	12. A mind of my own

Ahck, this was difficult to write. This is the reason Jinx loses sight of the pure little girl with attitude she was. So here it is, the way Blood got her, and the first of the 'three raids in one week' that begin the events that lead Jinx to decide she hates men and will form her own race of Amazonian warriors who will castrate a man for an immagined offence... hey, the authors feminist side gets to come out only once in a blue moon, so its gonna count.

* * *

Jinx had pushed her way through the halls to collapse in her room, only to find it wasn't where she had left it. _"Not where I left it, what the hell, it's a room, KRISHNA! How does a room move?"_ She wondered, pacing back and forth in the hall that had been the girls' dorm corridor. Had the whole academy gone crazy in the scant months she had been in jail? In fact, she had been watching the students, and no one seemed to notice her, it was a robotic rhythm to their movements. This was not right. She had to go see the headmistress, if nothing else. Setting her face, she set off again down the halls, the monotonous gold for the first time seeming to be a cage. Once it was a symbol of success, the goal she reached for, now it just seemed…fake. The office should be right around here, right? No, this was the cafeteria, ok so it must be down this hall, turn here and, right, my sense of direction has not failed me. Opening the door hesitantly, Jinx slipped into the office. "Headmistress?" She asked nervously, looking about her for signs of the stern woman who ran the H.I.V.E with an iron fist. 

"I regret to inform you your previous Headmistress is currently indisposed. But perhaps I may help you?" Jinx spun at the voice, there was a palpable tone of greed and command in it. Her eyes locked with those of what seemed to be a middle aged (at least!) man, judging by his hair. Not blinking, Jinx sized up the man and immediately formed a sound distaste for him. Wearing what looked like the robe of some esoteric order, his face seemed far too young. "And you would be?" She asked, calm defiance on her face.

"Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself, Jinx." If he had expected her to be shocked he knew her name, he would be disappointed. "I am Brother Blood. Your dear headmistress and I were good friends, and upon her disappearance I was asked to replace her as your new Headmaster." Brother Blood? What kind of a name was that? Was he some sort of vampire? No, blood dependency would leave that iron odor around him. Brother, obvious some sect or cult member. But why Blood? Jinx was pondering that with a scowl on her face when she got her answer. Her mind seized, pain shooting through her Ajana chakra. He was _in her head_! Oh no, that was not happening, not now. Slamming a shield down around her mind, Jinx was sent reeling. So, he was a type of psychic vampire, was he? She would have to be careful.

"Now, now Jinx, it isn't nice to keep secrets like that." Jinx bit down on her tongue to keep her head clear. "None of your peers did, now did they? For example, that lovely warehouse you bought with Gizmo and Mammoth." Seeing her shocked look, Blood went on. "Oh yes, they are here, they arrived shortly before you did. They are already serving their detentions for failure. You, on the other hand, have something they do not." _Free will maybe? _"You have ambition. But you also are bound to this academy. It is all you have, correct? You want to make sure nothing happens to it, don't you Jinx?" For all the work on her mental shields, the sheer truth of his words was starting to grate on her resistance. "You want to help me, don't you?" Jinx felt herself nodding, and worse, it wasn't forced, she really did want to help him. But she couldn't do that. No, Jinx served herself and her Goddess. No one could make her do anything else.

"_Om, Hrim, Krim, Hum, Shrim, OM HRIM KRIM HUM SHRIM!" _She chanted internally, the mantra was not helping even half as much as she would have hoped. Blood raised an eyebrow. "Return to you room, your new schedule will be on your desk." Seeing her puzzled look, he gestured to a map on the wall. "In case you get lost, every classroom has one now." Jinx's eyes widened, how had this man managed to get such control! The school was turned on its head, and she was not happy.

When she had made it to her dorm, she found that she was not the only one upset. Bumblebee too was going through the phases of subservience and outrage. "As soon as I get a chance, I'm leaving. Old creepy has totally destroyed the Hierarchy customs." She was saying to Angel when Jinx entered the girls' commons. Jinx nodded her agreement, and asked where Gizmo and Mammoth were. "Taking remedial Theory of Mayhem classes. Gizmo was screaming for an hour." Jinx was now fully frightened. History of Terror had been the closest thing to 'villainy' taught to her, and that was literally an analysis of how fear had shaped the cultures of the world today.

Jinx frowned openly. "I came to this school to learn how to live for myself, not to become a terrorist. This blows. And I don't want that old pervert in my head!" Some of the other girls stared at her like she had grown an extra head. "The Headmaster knows what he is doing, Jinx." Angel told her kindly, as if it was supposed to reassure her. Like that creepy old… intelligent….kind…. NO! Jinx fought back tears at this point; this was her mind, no one else's. She ran into her room and slammed the door shut, grabbing some beanbags and starting to juggle them, poorly. Red, White, Green, White, Red, Green, she watched them move, concentrated just on that, on keeping the flow strong, very difficult; Jinx never had much skill in that regard. After an hour of this meditation, Jinx finally felt calm enough to drop off to sleep.

The next morning she sulked into class, not at all pleased with the subject matter. Complaining to anyone who would listen, Jinx soon found out that she was the only student who hadn't been taken by Blood. Sure, a few kept breaking free, Gizmo and Bumblebee, and she could have sworn Wykkyd was frowning. But if a teacher looked sideways at them it was 'Yes sir' this and 'I understand' that. She forced herself to pay attention, slowly realizing she had to at least feign obedience if she was going to survive.

It never occurred to her to leave the H.I.V.E, Blood's influence on her had been subtle, but it had locked her just as surely as any other student. No one would hire a H.I.V.E dropout, and she had a criminal record in the area. Plus, how could she expect to succeed? Jinx was drowning in self doubt, and with each thought her shields faltered. She realized it, and decided she had to break free, there had to be a way. She was biding her time, waiting. Then an assembly came, and she figured Blood would be working so hard to keep grips on everyone that he couldn't fight her alone, right?

"Students! As you know, many of you do not have any real world experience. You will be expected to earn your keep; this may be in the way of heists or other such missions. You will not graduate until you have successfully completed fifty missions. Do you understand me?" Around her, heads were nodding, and Jinx felt the pressure on her mind. She closed her eyes, focusing on her breath, but then something shocked her. Her powers were surging.

Somewhere close, someone was doing something to incur tons of bad luck. And as the only bad luck channel for miles, the energy was flowing to her. Again, another action. Mirrors, it had to be someone breaking mirrors. That was the only thing this intense. The power in her body now was intensifying, to the point it was painful. She fought back the urge to scream, too much power, she was overloading. And then, it stopped. It all stopped. Her mind was clear, floating in a sea of peace. No need to think, she was safe in the school. The Headmaster wouldn't let anything happen to her. Jinx just had to listen to him and everything would be taken care of. The H.I.V.E would be taken care of. Her bad luck wouldn't doom it.

Walking back to her dorm after a long day of training and classes, Jinx was thinking about her homework, and how to best disable the security systems at the bank she and the boys had been assigned to rob tomorrow. Gizmo could handle the electronics, but things like the manual locks were up to her. They couldn't afford to alert anyone to their presence until they already had their minimum cash value on them. If it came to a scuffle, they had to be able to escape. They were only to fight if they knew they could win. If not, they had to run. Something about that didn't seem honorable, but he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. Plus, they were villains, right? What type of honor did they need?

"_Shreya…oh Shreya. How did this happen to you my child? So much potential and you are throwing it away for honor-less thievery. You cannot forget your mission, you have to…"_

That dream. That was such a vivid dream. A woman was speaking to her, what was she saying? A mission? Something about a potential and honor and… it was gone. Jinx frowned, but dressed herself and went to collect Mammoth and Gizmo. They had work to do, and failure would not be tolerated. "So, how are we gonna take this one, boys?" She asked when they were together in the entrance hall of the academy. "Security is pathetic, I take that out and meathead will grab as much as he can carry. Princess can go for the jewels and other crud that doesn't weigh her down." Jinx muttered under her breath at 'princess.' Mammoth looked slightly offended at being called meathead, but didn't make a remark. Gizmo got a few free shots in at them, just because they were friends. "And when the Titans show?" He asked; glad to have thought of something before Gizmo did. "Uhmm… we fight?" Gizmo replied lamely.

"We don't just fight, we give them a show. Use the fight to pocket all you guys can and then I'll give us a good escape." Jinx finished for them, Cheshire smile in place. All three extended the index and middle fingers of their right hand and touched them together before they took off running, ready to make a killing in bank goods.

* * *

That's right suckers. Jinx is brainwashed like any other H.I.V.E student. She's trying to fight, but Beast Boy's temper tantrum ruined her chances. Bad Titan! muahahaha. 


	13. Error, :shreya13: not found

Ok, first off I am **so** sorry. I really didn't want to split the 'Deception' coverage into two chapters, which is why it's taken so long to update, and I still ended up breaking off halfway. I really thought I could make it all in one, but between realizing the 1800 words and my writers block, I asked my sister what to do and she, being an ADD 12 year old, said that it was a perfect place to stop.

Also, the events portrayed in the first flashback sequence are controversial. I felt that for a pre-teen living in the poor district of Calcutta, to NOT have encountered these types would be misrepresentation of the area. While I myself have not been in such a situation, through literature written by many who have, or who were close to people who have, I hope not to offend those who _have_ by taking it lightly. It is not meant to be an equal to the present day events that follow directly after it; far from it as they are humorous and everyday occurrences, but rather a way to later explain her utter mistrust of males, when added with what occurs in the chapters to come.

In simple terms, yes, there is mention of attempted rape. No, I haven't been through it myself, although enough books and poems have been written by those who have that I hope to take the events with the proper respect. It is not being used as a plot device, rather the plot and history dictated that some such event would have happened unless Jinx's life deviated significantly from what would be expected given the circumstances.

The fact I used it to open this chapter is meant to show that it is a memory that, when added to what is about to happen, will shape her perception of the male gender significantly. It can be seen as a metaphor for Blood's mental domination, if you wish, but I only just thought of that writing this authors note.

I think I better stop or my authors note will be longer than my chapter.

* * *

"_Get away!" the small girl cried, clutching tightly at her sari as she was backed into a wall. Fear showed in the sweat dropping from her face, or was that tears? "No! Do not touch me!" She tried to dart sideways, but stumbled, her garment tearing, and despite all her efforts to get away, the approaching man had caught hold of her wrists, pinning her arms up against the wall. She could feel the heat of his body, smell his breath. "KALI MA!" She screamed, and let lose a tremendous blast of power on her would be rapist with a brilliant flash of pink. The creep let out a howl, hands flying to his groin before coughing up blood and falling unconscious on the ground. Jinx let out a shuddering sob and scampered back to the temple, holding her torn sari close to her body._

Jinx scowled as she entered the noisy HIVE cafeteria. Not that she was actually hungry, the boys ordered pizza earlier, but it was one of the few times she could genuinely tease them without repercussion. Mammoth had gotten a letter from Shimmer, and they were going to write up a reply during lunch. Unfortunately, someone had dared to take a seat at their table. Not exactly a smart thing to do. Mammoth stormed over to confront him, Gizmo scampering after. Jinx followed a moment later to hear Gizmo ask, "What do you think you're doing here?" Jinx squinted, something was wrong here, not only the fact a newbie was sitting at the top students' table.

"He looks familiar," She noted, raking her memory. 'Where could I have seen him? Maybe when I was younger…' But where was she then? Jinx became frustrated, not being able to remember. "Did you go to Darkway prep?" She asked, the name not quite feeling right on her tongue.

Mammoth and Gizmo started the ritual berating, and Jinx merely frowned. "DO you even HAVE any powers?" She scoffed. Gizmo dropped one of his portable ejector seats, which fired the newbie off, much to her appreciation. Jerkoff seemed to take offense at that. A moment later he'd trashed the table in one blow. Mammoth seemed won over. Jinx on the other hand… "Let's just see how he does in combat practice." She then grabbed Gizmo by one of the spider legs, and Mammoth by the shirt, demanding Shimmer's letter once they'd attained a substitute table. She quickly read it over, smirking at the line addressed to her. 'And you make sure they don't get their fool butts killed, I want my brother back in full working condition, plus Mikron is quite useful in the field.' _Don't you worry Shimmer_, Jinx thought, _I'll keep these two alive if I have to put them into suspended animation and ship them Fed-Ex_. The thought of doing that brought a smile to her lips. She could actually see it happening too, that being the sad part.

_Jinx was staring wide eyed, never in her life had she seen so many books! Rooms full of them. "And I can really read any one I want?" She asked, stunned into politeness. _

"_Any one you want." Jinx had never been an affectionate child, and so didn't know what to do. A normal child might have hugged the man who had led her to the library, but Jinx just offered her hand awkwardly. _

"_Thank you." The words were unfamiliar, Jinx had never been expected to thank another human being; generosity is not a common virtue when you're a temple rat, and being Brahman you expect everything given on a silver platter. After the rather clumsy handshake, Jinx slowly paced along the shelves, every so often pulling out a book and looking at the first page. Children's novels. After so many books, Jinx gasped. _

'When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held a position under the English Government and had always been busy and ill himself, and her mother had been a great beauty who cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible.'

This was a book about someone like her! Someone taken from India young, from all she understood, a Misse Sahib! Jinx sat down with the book, enthralled. These were words and customs she knew.

Combat practice, probably the most tedious part of the day. Jinx seemed to remember it being fun at some point. Before she graduated, it wasn't just running a course from start to finish. Then, she went through endurance, rocks and lasers and blinding lights, the object being to simply stay standing until the program was finished. Of course, it was much harder than it sounded, the projectiles came at incredible speeds, the floor tiles dropped six feet down or shot up twenty at random intervals, and keeping on your feet was one tough goal. Jinx grinned as the new course came up, and glanced at the setup while picking the pattern to try on it this time.

"Gamma Maneuver!" She decided, leaping straight up and off the platform, beginning the course. Gizmo followed close behind, as planned. Robots, cannons, nothing all that new, but the combination was new. She leapt and flipped as the lasers started, Gizmo shooting off a few rockets and taking them out.

Keep moving, don't look back. The floor shot up spikes, which Gizmo seemed to be having problems with. Well, he was airborne, so with wasn't that odd, although Jinx was able to weave through them no problem whatsoever. Jinx turned back as she heard Gizmo and Mammoth mocking the noob. The course was on a timed AI, and moving slowly allowed it to adapt more to catch them off guard!

"Quit fooling around!" She hissed, pointing toward the observation box. "The Headmaster's watching!" Exasperated, she took off towards the finish line, only to be snared by lashing metal tentacles. This shook something loose in her, her eyes glassing over.

"_Shreya! Control, daughter, control! You have powers, girl, use them! The beast can't hold you if you don't want it to." The shouting voice of Kali made the eight year old girl focus, flicking a wrist and letting lose a blast of hex energy. The Kraken that held her let out a shriek, but only gripped tighter to her torso. Lungs burning, Shreya watched with horror as the gaping maw came closer. She struggled, arms no longer able to move. "Help! My arms!" She gasped faintly, wanting to be saved. "Shreya, you should be strong enough that you never need someone else to save you. You can use your eyes for transmission as well. Concentrate." She squinted, focusing, her eyes flashed, and the appendage withered, dropping Shreya into the surf. Clutching at her chest, the sorceress coughed and staggered back to the shoreline. She knew she had finished her mission in the astral, and picked a mantra to wake herself back into the physical. "Ohm Klim Kalika-yei Namaha." _

Jinx's eyes opened, that memory, that was hers, wasn't it? She found herself being helped to her feet by the newbie. Still in a dazed state, she follows to the finish line. _'That was me. I know it. Why did it come back right now? And the woman, no, Goddess? Yes, that had to be a goddess. She called me daughter. Who are you?' _Jinx thought furiously, prodding her mind for the source of the vision.

"And as for you three" The headmaster was shouting at her and her teammates now, causing Jinx to flinch. "FAILURE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! YOU WERE ALREADY SENT BACK AFTER GRADUATING ONCE! FAIL ME AGAIN, AND I'LL HAVE YOU SENT TO YOUR DOOM!" Jinx shrunk back, anger boiling up in her; she was about to shriek at him who does he think he was to yell at her like that? She didn't take orders from anyone but… who was it?

"Do I make myself clear?" The voice was inside her head as well as without it, and Jinx found herself speaking in a toneless voice, along with Mammoth and Gizmo.

"Yes, Brother"

"Outstanding. In a few days, I will unveil your class project — the culmination of all your hard work over the last few weeks." Blood was saying. Something about that wasn't right. If he had only been here a few weeks, then someone was there before. Yes, she remembered, a woman who treated them with cool approval and simply expected obedience. Brother Blood demanded and forced it. "And when it is unleashed" Unleashed... no, this wasn't the HIVE she knew… "Our foes will tremble in our wake!" Foes? Tremble? Was she going mad? The HIVE wasn't an overt organization; it worked subtlety, didn't it? "Tremble!" A roar of chanting went up, and Jinx felt her mind cloud over again, her moment of clarity lost.

"Who does he think he is? Coming in and making fools of us." Jinx ranted, fingers digging into a disintegrating wall tile.

"Tell me about it. He got us in trouble with the headmaster!" Mammoth rumbled, twisting a bar of iron into a knot.

"That butt-kisser is gonna pay! Let's show the noob who he's messin' with!" Jinx nodded at Gizmo's suggestion. "How 'bout a good ol' fashioned initiation?" Jinx nearly hugged the pint sized genius. That would be perfect. The trio moved to track him down. They didn't have any trouble finding him.

"Well, what do you know. It's the headmaster's scrum-buffing pet." Gizmo was the first to spot him, and no one was going to deny him the first shots. "Get him!"

Jinx smirked. "Don't bother trying to run." She started, thinking that if he managed to tough it through the initiation, the newbie would be a perfect shield. If she stuck with the suck up, she might be able to figure out why the new Headmaster was giving off such bad vibes.

"You won't get far. The whole school is in on it." Mammoth finished her line, sounding as pleased as the rest felt. The newbie squirmed, visibly paling.

"In on what?" He stammered, a pathetic show of weakness.

"What do you think, pie-for-brains?" Gizmo taunted, producing a unicycle and ridiculous pink dress. "Your initiation"

"That's it?" Newbie laughed, obviously not understanding that Mammoth had come up with a good deal of his test.

"Don't laugh. You have to eat the unicycle." That sunk his mood a good deal. And it only got better…

* * *

-wipes sweat off brow- That, my dears, was one DIFFICULT chapter. Not my best work, but I'm still proud of it. The big challenge was in working with the fact Jinx is brainwashed, but SHE doesn't know that, only has a vague idea something was wrong. Kali knows, but to simply break through the metal influence would endanger Shreya significantly, possibly resulting in injury or even death. So she, in case you weren't sure, is helping to set lose the memories, in the hopes that Jinx will free _herself_ of Blood's powers. 

So, if you read this far, please drop a review. If you don't know what to say, as I often do, just give me a rating out of ten. Meanwhile, I'm going to go pick up another book on Hindu culture and try to decide whether to start studying Mayan or Aztec customs next.

-Mei


	14. Movies and Dances

MOTHER OF GOD this is long. And, its not even the end of the episode 'Deception' I must be insane. This chapter could be called filler, or it could be called me having fun.Tiny little cameo by the Endless, becuase I couldn't pass up the chance to incorperate my current reading into this story. (The Sandman Series, best thing DC ever did. Go read it now.) I'm certifiably insane, and HOPEFULLY I'll get the next chapter out soon, which will have Jinx... well lets just say I doubt you'd want to get in her way.

* * *

"Whaa-t?" Check and mate.

"Oh, I suppose you can pick who to gopher for, but Mammoth's stuff weighs as much as he does, and Gizmo's is liable to electrocute you. Worst mine can do is perhaps suck out your soul. They figured this was easiest. **I** for one don't know why the teachers think you're so special. You have to pass this if you ever want to consider yourself one of us." Jinx tossed the dress at the newbie.

"Well hurry up, I'm not gonna be late because you don't have the balls to do it." With Stone trailing after her, Jinx marched the halls. She tried to keep a straight face, but knew she was failing. What a fool. He didn't have to do any of these stunts, only the weak willed or desperate did. No one who actually was going to climb the social ladder put up with it. He must be an idiot. Or maybe… maybe he was doing it to prove that the rituals of their microcosm had no real influence in a society that rejects their perceptions and denies the intended reaction! Whoa! Amazing! This guy actually _was_ cool. Jinx set that notion firmly in her mind; that must be it, why Blood thought so highly of him.

Stone made it through that stage of the hazing with no trouble at all. "So, do we pass him?" Jinx asked, having pulled aside her partners in crime.

"I say go for it," That was Mammoth, who had been impressed enough by a few wrestling matches.  
"If we're goin' by the book, yah. The gunk brain passes."  
"So that's it then? No objections?" Jinx tried not to sound excited, but someone who rebelled against the status quo of her home. No. Not true.What? Not again. This-

_Shreya!_

_Huh?_

_You need to listen to me._

_Who are you?_

_Kali_

_I-I knew that._

_Yes you did. You know a lot of things Shreya,  
or would you rather I call you Jinx?_

_No, Shreya, always Shreya to you._

_Good. You remember who the head of the school  
was when you first came to the academy?_

_H-headmistress!_

_Not Brother Blood, then?_

_You mean, he- he's an usurper!_

_Very Good._

_But how?_

_You mean you don't know?  
Then let's move on. Your mission?_

_The daughter. I must ensure that she is strong of will, so she  
will win her fight when it comes. I must see she lives to fight it._

_Smart child.  
If you forget everything else,  
remember that._

"JINX! We said ok!"

"Right, sorry"

"Geez, you can stop mooning over him. Just give him the com and let's get on with it."

"Mooning over him? What the HELL?" She was going to kill that little midget.

"Well, you did get this faraway look in your eyes…" Mammoth added, taking Gizmo's side. Jinx huffed and shoved the pair out of the way.

"I'll give it to him later, its movie night. AAANNND! It's my turn to pick. Assemble the group in the cinema, Mammoth, get the snacks."

A few minutes later Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Stone, See-more, Kyd Wykkyd, Angel, Bee, Billy and Private HIVE had settled into the converted dorm room they used as a theatre, sprawled on assorted couches and pillows.

"So whose turn is it to pick?" Bumblebee asked, craning her neck to try and check the calendar.

"Mine!" Jinx grinned. "And I know just what to get" As one, everyone but Stone let out a groan.

"Aw dang."

"Why me?"

"This AGAIN?"

"Every time she gets to pick!"

"…" Wykkyd let out a silent prayer to whatever gods were watching.

"It's not fair."

"I'm too young and brilliant to die!" The last from Gizmo, who was promptly hit with a pillow. Jinx dashed out of the room.

"Uh, what's the big problem, she go for chick flicks or something?" Stone, naïve as ever, asked.

"I wish." Bumblebee muttered. "Then at least we'd get some hotties."

"Then what's so bad about-"

"ZIP IT!" Jinx had re-entered the room in perfect marching step, singing to herself and swinging the DVD case. "Dun, dun, dun, dun-da dun, dun, dun, dun-da dun, dun, dun, dun-da dun, dunna dun dun. Ok, to review the rules. There is to be no noise whatsoever. No speaking, coughing, snoring, giggling, or breaking wind. We will take two five minute intermissions, and when my song comes on, I will sing along, and Gizmo and Mammoth HAVE to sing their parts. Any violation of these rules will result in a lifetime of bad luck, got it?"

"Uh, is it always like this?" Stone whispered to See-more, who shook his head.

"No, just when Jinx picks. Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', every time."

"Why?" Having heard the conversation, Jinx cleared her throat.

"Because, Pebbles, it's something the HIVE members need. It shows the catastrophic results of trying to be something you're not. It proves that if your place is with the screams, then stay there, where you can be happy and succeed. It's like, if I were to try crime fighting, I'd screw it up worse than Jack did with Christmas, and end up miserable. The less appealing aspects of the year still have a place! That Death and Destruction are just as important as birth and creation!"

"Thank you Reverend Mother Jinx, we will all convert and join you in worship after the free kool-aid." Bumblebee smirked. "Just start the film."

Jinx pressed the Play button and took her seat on the floor. Clutching a pillow to her chest, her body began to sway to the incredibly catchy music. During her movie nights, Jinx dragged everyone with her back to the age of five. The first song was perhaps in minute in when Bumblebee's foot began to tap. When Jack appeared, lighting his body on fire, without realizing it Gizmo began to smile. By the time Jack returned from Christmas town, even Stone had forgotten anything but his sympathy for Jack and pure enjoyment of the movie.

Then, Just as Lock, Shock and Barrel walked off, Jinx paused the disk. "Five minute break, then –my– song!"

"Lock, Shock,and Barrel:  
Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws…?

Lock:  
I wanna do it

Barrel:  
Let's draw straws….

Shock:  
Jack said we should work together  
Three of a kind

Lock, Shock,and Barrel:  
Birds of a feather  
Now and forever!"

At that last line, Jinx elbowed her two team mates with a grin. Jinx thought the song perfectly showed how things worked. Gizmo came up with some ideas, Jinx came up with more ideas, they threw them around, then Jinx's won out. Mammoth grinning foolishly throughout, of course.

"I wish my cohorts weren't so dumb."

"I'm not the dumb one" Yes, yes you are Mammoth.

"You're no fun" Gizmo really got into the song, whether he would admit it or not.

"Shut up!" So did Jinx, and she knew it.

"MAKE ME!"

The rest of the group watching laughed at the trio's antics and resemblance to the trick-or-treaters, regardless of their horrid singing voices.  
"Kidnap the Sandy Claws, beat him with a stick, Lock him up for ninety years, see what makes him tick!"  
Jinx sighed and curled up on the floor, very pleased with herself. She watched the rest of the movie in a bit of a haze, having memorised it anyway. It was a simple way to refresh her memory that she was the end of the cycle, and nothing shameful about it.

"She fell asleep again."  
"Some things never change. Can anyone get her to her room without waking her?" Jinx was groggily aware of Bumblebee asking as she wavered in and out of consciousness.  
"I'll do it." She felt herself lifted into strong arms and instinctively snuggled up to the chest, which earned amused smiles she never saw. "She almost looks sweet when she's sleeping…"

"Only if she's not dreaming, then all hell breaks lose."  
"Why?" Jinx knew she was being carried down the hall to her room, but it felt like a dream.  
"Some gunk head offed her dad, mom sent her to a temple. Dunno what happened, but she spent her tenth year in the slums. Somethin there fucked her up but good. Thas' all we know."  
"Nothing else? About your own team mate?"  
"Jinx ain't real vocal about the past."  
"And you never asked?"  
"Look, if Jinx doesn't want to tell, ok. The past is the past, we don't care what happened then. Here an' now, the HIVE, that's what matters, and the future, course." Jinx was set on her bed and as the conversation between the three boys trailed off, true sleep set in.

She was in a grey place. The astral? No… Looming shadows. So wide and empty, voices, murmuring, overtop each other so she couldn't make them out. Loud, pounding in her ears, accusing. This grey mist, was it trying to choke her? Her lungs felt heavy, her head like lead. What? Why! Help…help. NO, it HURTS! Their hands on her throat, voices clearer now. "Killed, you killed us." "This is your repayment" "You reap what you sow" The mist was forcing into her mouth, her nose, trying to scream, flailing. 'Someone, help…' no more, no more.

An explosion, falling rocks, as she sat paralyzed. But, this wasn't her body. No. Ila's? Her mother's body? "How could you? I loved you. Or at least, I thought I did" The, another rock fell, crushing her. Had Ila known her daughter caused the destruction, and resigned herself to it? "So, I guess, you couldn't possibly love me." More rocks, dust, pain.

Dark, dark and cold and… too cold. Life? Where was life? No body now, just spirit. All turned to ask, utter destruction with no hope of resurrection. The cycle broken, failed, failed, failed. Hell? Give me hell, anything but this. Was this her fault? Failed, dust, crumbling, flames, gone, failed, lost. Lost, failed, dust, flames, ash, Mother, Daughter, DEATH.

Jinx woke screaming in a cold sweat. Blood had no hold on her now, not anymore, not that she was ever aware he had one. After a vision like that, she was sure something was wrong. Something she might do might ruin all hope for the Daughter, for all existence. Maybe, maybe the forces against her knew she was protecting the girl? Great, she had to get out now.

But she needed to not cause a fuss. The semester was over in two weeks, if she could just... Jinx's eyes flew open. TWO WEEKS? What was today? "AH! It's Saturday! The dance! Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit! I promised Stone one song too! Damn, damn, DAMN!" Jinx blasphemed several gods gathering a change of clothes and dashing to the showers.

She was going to get stuck in the 6am rush. "OUTTA MY WAY!" Not caring who she ran into, knocked down or stepped on in the mad scramble to get a clean shower stall.

Showered, dressed and ready for the day. Which meant, ready to finish the homework she put off. Tearing off to the library, Jinx only stopped long enough to wave to a few other classmates, sticking her tongue out at Bumblebee. Jinx spent the next five hours pouring over books, ran out for lunch, and put in another four hours before returning to her dorm to get ready for the dance.

_'Be happy! Be happy! I got a feeling you could use a little smile, hoping it could stay there for just a little while'_ Headphones on, Jinx was indulging in her guilty pleasure, Euro-pop. She was dressed and ready, trying to get into the 'stupid school dance' mood. _'Dreams of a prince on a tall white horse, runs like a spirit by the castle walls. If you were my king…'_ Slipping her headphones off, she made for the door. "Might as well get this done with. One dance, chance to show off my dress, maybe get some flirting in; then Jell-O shots with the girls for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Desire, I though you were told to stay out of this."

"_All the rest of you get to play with her_."

"You do too, just later on."

"_Big_ S_ister, you truly are no fun_."

"That's not what Delirium seems to think…"

* * *

"One dance, Rocky-boy. And not a slow dance, capiche? And if you happen to have Roman fingers, prepare to have them amputated." Jinx was antsy, dances were giant social events. She had to keep her reputation. Not that she expected everyone to like her, far from it, she hoped they'd fear and envy her.

_"I've no style, shiuno, I've no style, tsubasa te."_

"Ah! The J-pop! It burns!" Jinx sunk to the floor in perfect 'wicked witch of the west' style. "What a world, what a world."  
Stone looked bewildered and nudged her with a foot. "Uh, are you all right?" he asked, seemingly genuinely concerned, although that might just have been for her mental state.

"No, Angel must have gotten to the DJ. Looks like Beecher won this round" Stone still seemed confused, but at that moment the song changed, causing Jinx to brighten and drag him onto the dance floor, nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process.

_"I want to see where the siren sings, hear how the  
Wolves howl, sail the deep calm waters of the pacific."_

Stone was not the best dancer, especially when he wasn't used to the type of music, but Jinx didn't care, she danced well enough for a dozen people. Plus, it wasn't hard to teach, not for a song like this, at least. "You gotta loosen up, have fun! Gimme your hand." He did so. "Now, follow my moves relax, that's it, now, let me out for a spin- perfect!" Stone blushed heavily when she posed for snapshots, having a blast. Soon the song was done, and Jinx went off to engage the other girls in a Jell-o shot contest.

"So then, I noticed the camera, and I blew a kiss at it. And, of course, it explodes, she there's this peeping tom, a charred mess in the bushes outside the pool, I'm pretty sure his clothes were burnt off too!" Jinx finished as the half dozen girls collapsed into a fit of giggles. Jell-o shots had been a success.

"Bee, tell 'em about the 'haunted stereo' bit!"  
"No, they wouldn't want to hear that." Bumblebee protested. At the aww's and yes we do's, though she responded with "Really? Ok, so this was when Billy was into blasting that god awful death metal in the commons. One day I finally got sick of it and shrank down to insect size, and turned it to a reasonable volume. Billy comes back over and brings the volume up, a bit confused. Well, as soon as he leaves, I turn it down again. After about the fifth time, when he came over I zapped him"  
By this point most of the girls were snickering. "And I do that a couple-a times, then he goes and get See-more to look at it, and I hide until he's gone, so by now Billy thinks he's going nuts. So he has Gizmo look at the stereo." Bee paused for breath and another jell-o shot. "So, he gets it back, and Giz says there's nothing wrong with it. So, I keep the shocking thing up for the next few days, till at lunch he declares, very loudly, that his stereo HAS to be HAUNTED!"

"My ribs…"  
"Still funny, every time."  
"They really bought that? Goons"  
"Man, am I gonna have a hangover in the morning"  
"We should probably turn in."  
"Let's move as a pack, who knows what might happen to us tipsy girls in a school full of bad boys."  
"We'd wake up with a new murder charge…"  
"HA!"

As predicted, Jinx woke with a killer hangover. She decided to skip her scheduled training sessions, and told Stone to fill in for her, just get out of her room and don't slam THE FUCKING DOOR! Jinx clutched her head in pain, and then took a sleeping pill. She remained unconscious for the next 16 hours, and avoided human contact until the next day.

"So, how was Rocky-boy at playing leader?" She asked as she sat down for breakfast. Mammoth swallowed his four pieces of toast before answering.  
"A real pro. He really has it in him to lead." He gave Stone a friendly punch as he said that.  
"But nothin' on you Jinx." Gizmo piped in, likely to save both their skins. "He doesn't push for full force, full potential. Ya need that in a leader, else the whole thing clutches up and you bomb. Ya know, like our first mission." Jinx glared daggers.  
"I am well aware that the lax attitude we, no, I had in our first mission was the reason for our failure and subsequent stay in jail." Taking the blame for something like that was a new development for Jinx, something recent events taught her to do. "But no more! We put our whole hearts into this, our souls. We CANNOT lose anymore!" Jinx launched into inspiration speech mode. "Not just against Titans, but the world! We've been stepped on, sneered at and abused for the last time! The H.I.V.E academy is a family, we will succeed!"

"Jinx, you're getting sappy." Gizmo seemed uncomfortable with this strange display of pure passion and emotion.

"So what? I don't know about you three stooges, but I want a job in a powerful organization, I want my name to be known and feared. A full H.A.E.Y.P education with minimal criminal charges is the only way I can stay off the streets, avoid petty thievery for a living. I'm meant for bigger things!" Jinx trailed off, blinking back tears.

"You'll do fine, Jinx." Stone smiled; a hand on her shoulder. "If you put your mind to it, I can't see anything holding you back." Jinx returned the smile. There was nothing that could bring her down now. Things finally seemed to the working out. All that was left was to check her wards on the daughter before lunch. Then maybe she'd go shopping, get Gizmo an early birthday present.

"Students! Security breech!" Their communicators buzzed. "Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth and Stone, report to training hall C, all other students to dorm commons. ASAP!"

Or, maybe not.

* * *

Who caught my referance to mass suicide during the movie night scene? Cookies for you who did. Cookies to those who can identify every song in this chapter, and to those who actually reveiw.


	15. Houston, we have a Titan

All elements copyright their respective owners.

The opinions expressed within are not representative of those of the author, except during PMS.

This chapter is all about forgiveness. Believe it or not.

* * *

"Gizmo, it's THEM! I told you even if my powers killed that thing they still had a ballpark estimate. You know as well as I do that with that with that its only three clicks and a map before they have us. We should have told SOMEONE! Now all hell is going to break loose and the school will be ruined. I'll have failed!" Jinx was scared witless. "Stone, you call the shots. We're screwed anyways you look at it." Stone seemed confused, but readily agreed as they ran to the training hall. Blood was waiting for them, and Jinx gave an involuntary shudder at the sight of him. He ordered them to prepare for combat and raised the platform, telling them to expect their guests any second now. 

And so they arrived. "Attack pattern ALPHA!" Ah yes, the Titans had never faced Stone, had they? The charge began, the odds looking slightly better, now she thought of it. Four on five, home team advantage and the element of surprise. The Titans were quick, she'd give them that. Jinx playfully dodged starbolts, easily the most agile there, with the possible exception of Robin.

Mammoth rammed into a column, and Jinx refocused on Raven, tossing a few spells her way. None made contact, with left Jinx with mixed pride and annoyance. Annoyance the half demon seemed to share as she aimed a group of columns at her. Jinx smirked and jumped onto the first projectile, sprinting from one to the next and then to the ground as they hit the wall. She returned to head off Starfire, mentally noting the male Titans weren't engaging her. All the better. Throwing a furious spell that dazed the alien for a moment, Jinx took the time to pat herself on the back. Then, jumped right back into the actions as the rain of fire returned. Gizmo took over with his holographic projector, and Jinx spun into battle with Raven again. With the battlefield getting smaller and smaller, it seemed finally Blue Cloak was forced into hand to hand. A flurry of kicks were easily parried with her forearms, dropping into a curtsy before shooting out her own leg. When the Titan stumbled, she sent a hex that Raven barely blocked, the effort pushing her over to her team mates.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Gizmo shot off a force-field, so the only fight remaining was that of Cyborg and Stone. Things were getting intense. Jinx watched with certain admiration. He really _was_ one of them. And they would beat the Titans. She knew something had been missing form her team, another able bodied yet intelligent follower seemed right.

The arm! He destroyed his ARM! Vicious, what this was, even, murderous. Frankly, a bit scary. Then, something happened, a flicker, NO! Stone, Stone the student with the most potential besides the other graduates, _Stone_ was **Cyborg**? Then, then, he really -had- been desperate for acceptance. He wasn't rebelling against their structure, everything about him was a lie! She'd gone to a -dance- with a _do-gooder. _"I knew it! The stinking gack-bag is one of them!" Jinx wasn't in any mood for Gizmo's gloating. She was trying to figure to how to rip the phony apart gear by gear.

"No" Said Blood, floating down the join them. "He's one of us now"

"And I'm ready to prove it."

"I had a feeling you'd say that. This will amplify your power by magnitudes unimagined. Destroy them for me, and you'll have your reward."

Reward? What was he talking about? The way Blood's eyes, she knew that look! What was it? Mind control, now she remembered why she didn't trust Blood. But that didn't excuse the act. If he truly was with them, it would be a long, long time before she would turn her back on him.

"Cyborg, no!"

"Please!"

"Come on buddy, we're your friends!"

Cyborg's expression hardened, and Jinx was shocked at the next words out of his mouth. "Sorry, but I have new friends." So he considered them friends? Saw the truth about their way of life? Understood them and _liked_ them?

* * *

**'And they all lived happily ever after, the end'

* * *

**

In a perfect world, that would be true. But, there are no such things as happy endings, merely pleasant stopping points. If you continue on, it always ends in tragedy.

"Psych!" As if in slow motion she saw him turn and fire the magnified sound blast towards them, saw Blood hastily throw up a shield. 'How could you? I liked you. At least, I think I did' the force of the explosion threw her to the ground, as the debris began to fall: 'Guess you couldn't like me…'

Jinx landed and stood to hear Blood call his action foolish. Jinx simply said the first thing that came to her mind. "You could have been one of us." That wasn't exactly what she meant though. What she meant was many things:'You could have not toyed with us. You could have stayed in the background. Instead you pretended to befriend us, then destroyed us. You didn't have to screw with us like this.' And her final thought, the most malicious one she wanted so badly to speak, but didn't, because she was nicer than him. 'Didn't you learn anything from Terra, how she hurt you?' She wanted to accuse them all of hypocrisy, to spit in their faces and tell them they had no honour. But she didn't, because Jinx was more respectable than that.

"I could've been a lot of things." Cold, disapproving, scornful. Well good for you, you bastard, rub it in why don't ya? Thanks for sharing those opportunities, not leaving us with our false choices, fight or die. We aren't all privileged like you, gifted with skills that help other people and the desire to do so. She hopped onto the platform, disgusted, giving on last look before letting years of her life be torn away in the crumbling building.

He would pay. Jinx vowed then and there that when he least expected it, Cyborg would pay for what he did to her home, her family. The flirting, the dance, that wasn't an issue, just her stupidity. No, it was betraying them in the end. Why? Why couldn't he have just disappeared and not brought the Titan's down on them like an anvil? Didn't he see they were good people? Ok, so not _good_, but they were people.

* * *

"The sun should not set upon our anger, neither should he rise upon our confidence. We should forgive freely, but forget rarely. I will not be revenged, and this I owe to my enemy; but I will remember, and this I owe to myself."  
**-- Charles Caleb Colton**

* * *

Outside the ruins of the academy, Jinx ground her teeth, fighting back her tears of rage. Bumblebee had been kind enough to grab an armload of things from Jinx's room before everything fell apart: a stuffed dragon, two books, a Kali icon and a handful of amulets; just the items that were sitting on her bed, along with her blanket. Gizmo already told her that as soon as things settled down he was going in for everything he could salvage. 

"Beecher, we're getting you out of here." She said quietly, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. "You can pass for an undercover agent, get on their good side." No question as to who they were. "I made a promise to Shimmer; once it's fulfilled I'll call you up. Maybe. I'll try and get your team out, but this plan is between us two."

"Jinx, why are you helping me?" Bumblebee asked, surprised and obviously touched.

"Because you're fighting Blood's mind control. The only one besides me who is. I'm in too deep to get out clean, and the boys…"

"You have to break them out safely, I got it. So what, this means mutiny?"

"No, we're still rivals Karen, and I still know many of your secrets. All that's changing is your location and team. Now get out of here, no, wait," Jinx held and hand over one of Bumblebee's stingers and whispered a few words in a shamanistic tongue, a glow of purple and blue briefly enveloping the device. "Spell of mental clarity. Touch it and Blood won't realize he's not controlling you. That should last one month. Now, rivals again."

"You bet it bad luck charm. I'll whoop you again."

"In your dreams, insect."

Their eyes flashed with fire as the two shook hands, each trying to outgrip the other.

* * *

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."  
**-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy**

* * *

Gizmo and Mammoth managed to slip off to the warehouse base, lucky for them that was where Gizmo kept most of his tech. Jinx soon followed with the remains of her room. "We got murdered." Mammoth grumbled, falling heavily onto the couch in the dimly lit room separated only by stacks of crates. 

"Stupid pinheaded bribing Brother Blood did us in. He thought he could trust a circuit brained butt kissin' Titan? That's total crud." Gizmo was already working on repairing his gear from the battle.

"We're not going back to him." Jinx stated glumly. "Gizmo, can we turn this into a new base? Add subbasement levels, citywide monitoring, the works?"

"Cake-walk."

"Heh, well at least something good came out of this."

"Mammoth, I swear if you mention insurance, so help me, I will string you from a wire by your fingers and toes, regardless of what your sister will say."

"No, I mean Gizmo snagged that ring, can't you use that syco-pathetic magic and voodoo the Titans?"

"It's sympathetic, moron, and voodoun is an art only practiced by the stupid, the insane, the power crazed or the suicidal. You may be stupid, and Gizmo's insane, but my desire for power and depression are not prominent enough for the risk." Jinx stalked over to her desk and began leafing through the art supplies she'd left here, all but her latest sketchbooks, so no great loss.

"Gizmo, we need a computer program to work out our heists."

"You mean show targets? What kind of data are you thinking of?"

"Electronic security, sound level associated with suspicion, chance of witnesses, distance form base, distance from Titans tower, average value of goods, and times, obviously."

"What about demand for goods, difficulty of reselling, and police stations distances. Oh, item weights and sizes, plus delicacy."

"Good call. Uhm, can you take some of the data to estimate manpower needed, level of profit and risk of capture, and then use those to assign mission values based on our current situation?"

"No problem; genius, remember? I should have a prototype with a few banks and jewellery stores ready in three days, full city data within the month. Bug free in two months or your money back!" Gizmo had a big head, which must come with the IQ. Jinx chose to ignore his ego for the moment, she had more important thins to worry about.

"So how'd you like dating a Titan?"

"Was he such a goody-goody after the dance?"

Such as that, for example. Jinx spoke softly under her breath, not looking at Gizmo at his workbench or Mammoth leering over the back of the couch. "What was that? Couldn't hear you."

"I. HATE. MEN!" Jinx lost it. "Mindless hormone driven bastards! No respect for the emotions or opinions of others, just go on doing what _they_ want! Add in that stupid 'hero' factor with their idea of justice and you have a world class asshole!" Gizmo had privately decided Jinx had taken leave of her senses

"I don't know how women have put up with them thought the centuries, because frankly there a no redeeming qualities. This is supposedly a male run world, well I can believe it, it would explain why everything's going to HELL! Whatever happened to chivalry, knights on white horses? I mean, I'm no damsel in distress, but I'd like someone to make SURE!"

Jinx had always thought of herself as a feminist, even since the word had become known to her. Girl power and all that. But rarely had she become this passionate about it. "Men have had their time! Women use the muscle of the brain to make our struggles. How often does a cat fight actually result in physical harm? Second to never? Men have the tendency to kill each other over the slightest little thing, massacres over dinner choices, for crying out loud."

Jinx was shouting at the top of her lungs at this point, and several crates of supplies had been destroyed by her powered fists as she paced furiously around the room. "Not to mention they have the personality of a rock, no pun intended, with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon! Well, they feel them, the just conveniently forget that other people do too. My GOD, as if destroying the school isn't enough, he had the gall to call us friends before doing it? That insensitive jerk. I hope this plagues his dreams for the rest of his unnatural life, may he rot in hell. I've heard rumours of a hidden Amazon society, I'd be there in a heartbeat, just give me the location!"

"Jinx, can we worry about revenge in the morning? I'll make breakfast." Mammoth offered, trying to calm her down. Jinx scowled for a while before finally nodding.

"Pull out the couch then, I'm taking the recliner"

"First thing after breakfast I'm gonna start working on the subbasement crud, how many below do we want?"

"Just two, we can use the two floors above us for some stuff too, ya know, H shaped."

"Ok, bedroom for each, my workshop, Mammoth's weight room, Jinx, you need a spell room?" Jinx nodded. "Ok, won't be hard, and we'll have tons of room left so if Blood drives out anyone else we can take them in." Jinx smiled, Gizmo was thinking of others, he must be growing up. She suppressed a laugh and killed the lights, leaping into the chair and saying goodnight to the boys, which they may not have heard over her landing. Revenge could wait. Until he least expected it, until he thought she'd forgotten or forgiven him. When it would hurt him most, then revenge so sweet it'll rot your teeth. Jinx fell asleep dreaming of how she would take all of those do-gooders by surprise.

* * *

Jinx does calm down about this, of course, but directly after the event, she obviously would be livid. Don't think calming down means she'll forget. A man forgets but never forgives, a woman forgives but never forgets. She will never let them live this down, ever. 

I always saw Deception as a switch sided version of Betrayal. It was considerably worse than what Terra did, though, because they seemed to have no remorse, they never made any attempt to soften the blow. No, the Titan's used a dirty trick, and sunk very low. You would think that they would have at least made an effort to help the students or set them on the 'right' track. But what do they do? Yeah. You get it.

I never had much respect for the Titans, I watched to root for Slade until this episode, where I began to root for anyone who could take them down. You should have seen me after 'Calling All Titans', I was hooting and pumping my fist, shouting "Robin got owned, Robin got owned" for a good twenty minutes. My parents thought I was nuts.


	16. Life is Grand

Hello faithful readers. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, no excuses. I moved from Ohio to New York in the time I was 'away', and only just now got the time to finish this chapter and post it. Don't like it? Tough.

* * *

In the newly renovated warehouse that was home to the top H.I.V.E Academy graduates all was silent. This was hardly odd, as it was six thirty in the morning. What might be considered odd, however, was how the silence was broken. Along with the silence, a rather old lamp shattered, and Jinx swore profusely. She had hauled Mammoth all over the city to hit every thrift store, flea market and yard sale in a thirty mile radius. That lamp had been one of her favourite finds, and she knocked it over in her stupid- OW! 

Jinx groaned and clutched her abdomen, bracing against the waves of pain that racked her. Once again Jinx fervently wished she could just be normal. She never knew when it would hit her; doctors called it an irregular menstruation, but Jinx knew why so many women referred to it as 'the curse'. Two or three times a year her body would decide to revolt, and for almost two days her powers would be gone, senses spastic, and cramps bad enough to make even stoic Jinx sob. She'd tried medications before, to no avail. For that time she was worse than useless, she was weak as a newborn kitten and emotional. A liability.

Prying herself out of the foetal position before she bled everywhere and freaked the guys out, Jinx forced herself to clean up. The effort it took to get clothes and towels was enough to make Jinx want to scream in annoyance. Luckily, she had worked closely with Gizmo in the redesign; her room was on the lowest level and had a master bath. She had insisted her shower have a seat built in, and Jinx was happy to fall onto it and let cool waters sweep over her pricking skin, washing away sweat and blood.

She had to be careful to keep the water lukewarm. To hot and she could easily pass out, and no one would find her until it was far too late. Gizmo and Mammoth wouldn't come looking for her until they were worried, and they knew she could take care of herself. Also, they knew that interrupting her when she was working on something was not a good idea; if they wanted to ensure their health. The scent of mint was sharp in her nostrils as she massaged her scalp. She had to blink her eyes against the fuzzy grey blur of the world as she rinsed out the suds. She heard every piece of the salt scrub that dropped from her fingers to the floor hit with a tinkling sound. The back of her neck prickled as she wrapped herself in a towel against the cold air of the room.

Dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sweats, Jinx wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed. But there was no way she was going to waste a whole day, even if she did have no powers and was in intense pain. She could manage perfectly well without her powers, and Jinx wasn't going to let a little thing like pain slow her down. She was going to be the best, and nothing was allowed to get in her way. Making her way to the main floor, Jinx breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar sounds of Gizmo waking up Mammoth. There was an air horn, followed by a thump that could have been Mammoth falling out of bed or Gizmo being thrown into a wall.

Jinx curled up on the couch, content to wait for her roommates to arrive before eating, plus she had no desire to cook. She soon fell asleep, and Mammoth came upon her as he moved to raid the fridge. "Gizmo!" He whispered. "Jinx's sick!" Gizmo flew over quickly at the words, asking how he knew that. "Her hair's down and she's not in her normal outfit. Plus she's paler than usual." People may think that Mammoth was stupid, but it wasn't true. He did tend to miss things, and wasn't famed for bright ideas, but he was quick to pick up on changes in his team mates. Shimmer had joked many times when they were younger that he was a kind and gentle soul who just happened to like to beat the stuffing out of things.

"Should we wake her?" Gizmo asked apprehensively. If Jinx was sick, who knew what kind of mood she would be in? She'd rarely gotten sick when they were in the academy, just a handful of days in the infirmary, all spaced out. Gizmo had taken it for granted that Jinx was never seen when she was sick. But of course she _was_ female, and as such susceptible to far more dangerous afflictions than common illness. Dangerous to others, that is.

Mammoth looked around nervously. "Uhm, lets try to make things more, uh, comfortable. Put on water for tea, I'll make some eggs, and let's hope she's in a mood to thank us." This caused a grin from Gizmo. Jinx was rarely in a mood to thank anyone.

**Many eons ago:**

"This will not work. Where is Eris? I though he was one of hers?" Odin asked, rubbing his temples in annoyance. Bast shook her head, cat's eyes watching the room.

"He worked for her once during her war, but not since then." She informed the council of gods that had gathered to discuss the situation at hand.

"Things have gone too far." The Puck declared. "I'm all for mischief, but this wanton destruction has no style!" Nods all around. Someone mentioned that they should have called the Morningstar for this meeting, that it would be the one best suited to arrange the fate of such a being.

"You cannot mean that." Hera sniffed disdainfully. "When has the Morningstar ever cared what happens to us?"

"Only when it effects him; of course." Thoth answered wisely. There was then a series of groans from those in the pantheon of the Aztecs. They had witnessed first hand the lack of concern those beings above gods showed.

"We must do something." Shiva scowled, fingering a bruise on his neck as he spoke. His eyes passed over all those present with fire as he was still recovering from his own brush with the creature they passed judgment on. "How fares Mars?" Mars had been the latest in a series of attacks upon gods that had been going on for ages.

"The three sisters are watching him." Ilyap'a, an Incan deity, informed them. Things did not look good for the gods, not if these attacks could continue with such speed. This last had come without even a full year's interval. The demon was becoming too powerful. Even the Morrighan, battle incarnate, had taken grievous injuries at his hands.

"We cannot destroy him. This we have learned." Zeus spoke up for the first time since the conclave was called. "Best we can manage is to imprison him. Vulcan, can you forge something to hold the beast?" The smith god shook his head. Even the best of prisons would have a weakness, which the demon would find and exploit as soon as possible. How could they hope to keep him?

X'hal, one few living deities that attended (that is, one who walked the lands as if mortal still.) raised an interesting idea. Why could they not forge a prison, and know it's weakness, in fact set down the weakness. They could form a prophecy that could foretell either his ultimate success or defeat.

"Who could handle setting such a condition?" Asked a worried Hades, there were few mystics left these days, most of those with enough power had long since been forgotten or changed as invaders came through, their powers diminished.

"The Norn's are useless."

"Kali is still hiding."

"She wouldn't have been able to do that anyway."

"What about the Delphi oracle, can you convince her Apollo?"

"Of course I can."

"Will that be enough?"

"No. Ammet would take him if we can get him weighed." Ma'at put in.

Culsu scowled, things were starting to get pathetic.

A Baba Yaga insisted they strike a bargain. Loki would have no part of it. Soon a shouting match had begun, for even gods could act as children when the situation seemed hopeless.

Danu finally broke the uproar with a chiming note. "You forget you are among friends, or at least allies. Devi, Amon-Ra and I can work as one, the trios of sisters may work together, and I am sure if powers are combined, the conditions may be set down. Let us first _decide_ the conditions."

Hephaestus declared the demon would be imprisoned in a sealed realm, one requiring ritual to open. Thor was adamant that only an avatar could exit when the ritual was preformed by humans. This would prevent escape into the hands of fools who would have no power over Trigon. Set added that only the spawn of the demon could release the true form. Hathor had to pry Horus off of him before things could continue.

Freya suggested that only through proper ritual could Trigon be summoned through his avatar so as to reproduce. Parvati agreed, so long as the child could either free the demon completely from his bondage or destroy him utterly.

Some of the eldest gods were angry at the fact they had not dealt with this threat sooner. Krishna and Lakshmi both insisted that there were too many deities, that only the heads of the pantheons should be present for this. Persephone gave them a cold glare and said they were free to leave any time.

Eventually, though, the conditions were agreed on. Trigon would be bound in a prison realm. Ritual could summon an avatar of him to the Earthen plane, where he could sire one child per summoning. When the child came of age, the blood would begin a ritual to summon the father. The child would hold the power to sever the last of the bonds which held the demon, and the power to destroy him completely.

**Present day:**

Jinx woke to the smell of bacon, eggs, and citrus. She stirred slightly, eyes closed against the light. A soft voice came to her half conscious mind. "Jinx? Are you ok? Come on, sit up." It was Gizmo, sounding genuinely worried for his team-mate and unofficial leader. He had doffed his jet pack and was sitting on the arm of the couch, hands twisting slightly. Jinx opened one eye to peer up at him, and nodded.

"I'm fine. Really, I am." She replied, sitting up slowly. Unfortunately, at that moment Jinx's hormones decided to play a horrible joke on her, and she felt herself becoming uncharacteristically emotional, to the point of tears welling in her eyes. Gizmo gave a yelp and backed away, forgetting his placement on the armrest and falling with a clatter to the floor. In normal circumstances Jinx would have laughed at that before helping him up, instead this simply sent her over the edge and the waterworks began. "I'm sorry I made you guys worry about me so much, I am I am!" Mammoth's eyebrows shot up into his hairline and Gizmo backed away on all fours.

"Jinx? Get a grip, it's all right." Gizmo tried to escape, but found himself enveloped in a crushing hug. "AHH! Lemme GO! When did you get all mushy? What the speck has gotten into you lately?"

Jinx released the shocked boy with a sniff. "Damn this. No, I can't be emotional. Sorry, just that time. Gods, I hurt." The boys exchanged worried glances. They'd been classmates for years, and never once had Jinx complained about 'that time'. They'd mostly forgotten she wasn't just one of the guys.

"Uhm, Jinx, this is the first time you've, uh, been bothered by 'that time' that we know of. Can you explain this for us, what we should do?"

Jinx nodded. "Yeah, ok. Tiny body, very active, strong powers, it all adds up to me not producing the hormones to trigger the cycle as often. Couple times a year. And because of that, it's a lot more painful when it does happen. And…" Jinx hesitated, not sure if she should tell them she had no powers during this time. They might feel they had to protect her or something. She would hate that.

"And what? Come on Jinx, we're practically family, no secrets here."

"Fine Gizmo, fine. I have no powers. For the next few days, I'll be in pain and powerless. Are you happy now?"

As predicted, they immediately jumped to do everything for her. Brought her breakfast, fluffed her pillows, rubbed her feet. Jinx ended up throwing everything in reach at the two to get them to sit down and let her take care of herself.

It didn't work.

"Jinx, are you thirsty?"

"NO! And if I was, I'd reach in front of me and grab the soda on the coffee table myself."

"Can I get you one of your spell books? Or your art supplies?"

"Mammoth, I'm not made of glass, damn it. I swear to god, would you treat Shimmer this way?"

"Yeah, I would."

"She's scary when she's on her rag." Gizmo agreed, trembling in memory of a time that Jinx had not been present for.

Jinx giggled; which, coming from her, sounded _very_ cruel. "I'm telling her you said that. She'll murder you when she comes for Christmas."

"Shimmer's coming for Christmas?"

"She's doing what!"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? She called last week to let us know." It was a calm, innocent question, tailored perfectly to incite a riot and get Gizmo and Mammoth to focus on something other than the fact she couldn't kick their butts faster than you can say 'snot' at the moment. It worked, sending the duo off on a hunt to prepare for the arrival or the 'tyrant' they hadn't seen in years.

"AHHHHHH! WE HAVE TO GET HER GIFTS!"

"ONLY THREE MONTHS TO PREPARE!"

Their frantic motions enabled Jinx to spend an entire day watching Scooby Doo. Shimmer wasn't that bad, she just was older than them, and had the same quick temper Jinx exhibited. She also had a bit of a cruel streak, when it came to training and fighting. Shimmer would never really endanger them, especially not her brother. But it still remained that she had high expectations, and a lot of money. Shimmer was successful in her place in the H.I.V.E, working long hours with great rewards. She never told them exactly what she did, but the hints given indicated that she'd roughed up a few politicians and big name gangsters recently. Even Jinx was rightfully afraid of her; it was hard to deny being beaten when you're stuck in solid cement almost five feet deep. (Shimmer, being a matter transmuter, had turned the ground to Jell-O, and then back, leaving her stuck for a while, until her powers kicked in enough to crack it.)

So she let them panic, the fact was they would be ready in plenty of time, but the more done now, the less work _she _had to do.

"Don't hurt yourselves; I'll be back up and about in a few days, promise."

Meanwhile, the crusade against the Daughter of Trigon had taken an interesting turn. So far, Jinx had only taken down demons who feared the return of Trigon, and the punishment that would bring. Cowards, driven by a guilt and shame that made them easy foes. Now, though, things had changed. The gods had imprisoned Trigon, but they failed to inform the Silver City of the purposeful flaw in the prison. It hadn't seemed necessary at the time. Now it was too late.

Angels, low ranking, but angels still, had taken positions to eliminate the Daughter. As Jinx lay incapacitated, Raven was fighting her own battle against a dragon criminal the heavens offered freedom to, in exchange for the life of the Gem. This left many a god grinding their teeth. Jinx was the closest agent any of them had; all others were too far away to be of help. Jinx had been stationed to protect the Gem without her knowing, the final line of defense!

Nothing could be done but hope the actual divine corps wouldn't arrive before this period of weakness passed. Kali wondered if she should warn her daughter of the danger to come, but knew she would not be allowed. Powerful as she was, she still answered to Shiva in many matters. So, Jinx was cramping, Kali was sulking, and Raven was fighting a dragon-wizard centuries old.

Wasn't life grand?

* * *

Ah yes. So. You made it through this far. I suppose I should reward you. Here's a sneak peek at my next project. 

From the deep dark corners of Mei's mind.

If people really did spontaneously burst into song...

Lightspeed: The Musical.

Jinx waved her hand to show the museum, helpless to their plunder. Her eyes glinted as she continued her song _"The game is near the end, They can't reverse the trend, Victory's in store, Baby, it's time to roar!"_ And roar they did, a cheer of delight. _"We're takin' it all!"_ It was as if there was an echo behind her, singing along _"Takin' it, Takin' it, we're takin it all!"  
_Bopping to the rhythm, the H.I.V.E F.I.V.E filled their arms, finally, they had done it right!

_"When you've won it, you've done it, No need to be coy  
It's a shutout, so strut out, Cut loose and enjoy. We're takin' it all, makin' it a clean sweep. Surprise, surprise, we're claimin' the prize, And makin' the final leap!"

* * *

Yeah yeah, I just wrote this in the fanfiction editor, so it's not the final version of this excerpt, but it gives you a hint as to what's coming, doesn't it?_


	17. YOU'RE ON!

"Take your bureaucratic divinity and shove it where your sexual organs should be, you hermaphroditic war monger!" Jinx had a very special way to talk to angels, especially those who spoke like lawyers while swinging ten foot swords at your head. Such was the angel she had been alternately fighting and debating Silver City Law with for the last four hours.

The opponent was a member of the Moon Wings, very low ranking in the angelic armies. If this was their scouting party, Jinx was too scared to imagine the full force. Latael was a prime example of the racist nature of angels, blonde haired blue eyed and pale peach skin. The genderless being continued to fly forward, another swing of the sword just missing Jinx's right arm. "The orders stand, the last trace of the being must be eliminated for the plane to be cleansed. The girl child must die. Why do you sully your soul protecting that monster?"

Jinx knew she couldn't lose her temper, angels didn't realize how arrogant they sounded. Poor misinformed beings, she should really pity them. YIPES! But not so much she gets another elbow in her gut. Jinx threw her body to the side, tumbling away. Why hadn't someone noticed the commotion? This was just a parking garage, not even abandoned! Of all the times not to call the cops. Ducking behind an SUV, Jinx took a deep breath. She knew that the immaterial chaos nexus (ICN) was still accessible, but the power she would draw from it might not be able to do any damage through the High-energy Stasis Matrix (HSM) in its battle garb. She was wracking her brain for everything she had read in comparative metaphysical theory. And Gizmo said electronics was difficult.

Her rumination was cut short as the sword sliced through the vehicle with a sickening ker-runch. She had to keep it thinking, maybe she could distract it, hehe, even short its brain with a paradox. "I work to protect HER because she has potential!" Jinx wished she had minored in some weapon based combat, but done was done. Another hex thrown merely bounced off the flowing robes. She really hated holy nexi.

"Potential to destroy the universe. The half breed must be abolished! You continue to stand in my way, mortal." That tranquil voice, like that of a boy's before it deepens, didn't match at all the abhorrent words it spoke. "You wield the chance currents with no little skill, but I can see the blackness on your soul. Aid us, and you may be saved an eternity of Hell."

Jinx scowled. Humans made their own hell; you only went to one because you thought you deserved it. But when it talked of the blackness on her soul, just for a moment, Jinx faltered, and the sword came to rest on her jugular. She dare not move, not unless she wanted to die.

"What is the real reason you protect the demon spawn?" Latael asked with genuine curiosity. "Tell me why you fight against it in the public eyes of mortals, yet will give your life to save it in private?"

Jinx felt the sweat trickle down her forehead to sting in her eyes. What _was_ the reason? Why _did_ she do this every time Kali told her to? It wasn't enough that Kali had told her, any god can be wrong, and any mortal can say no to a god without (too much) fear. Why was she protecting Raven?

Swallowing, she closed her eyes. "Because someone has to." Playground logic, I know, but that was the only reason that Jinx could think of at the time. The truth was, Jinx didn't know why she did this; it was just something in her being that told her that Raven needed her pity and her protection. Raven didn't have the kind of training she did. Jinx had been given a gift in a land of gifted children. Raven, on the other hand, was born of a demon in a pacifist realm. She had to teach herself how to use her powers to fight, not have them honed by years of rigorous duties. Raven wanted and needed love and friendship. Jinx wanted and needed a purpose, the satisfaction of doing what she did right.

It was something like a mothering instinct for magic users, I suppose. This was not created by her mission; rather it was why she was chosen. She alone would be secretly concerned with the well being of her disadvantaged foe, even while beating her into shape.

Latael laughed. A deep, hearty laugh that unnerved Jinx. It shook her very soul. "Someone has to." He replied. "Someone has to? I had hoped you would try to save your skin, but _this_?" His free hand gestured to her. "This is ridiculous! What do you hope to gain by this?" Finally, he asked a question that she could answer.

"Nothing. Everything. Purpose." Her eyes opened to stare unblinking into the eyes of the celestial being before her, her voice calm and un-shaking. She felt a sense of pride, even as she started planning what she would say to Kali after she was killed. Great, and she still owed Shimmer fifty bucks. Hell, she hadn't even had her first kiss and she was going to die.

"Purpose? This is your purpose you say? To die without a chance?" The sword was lowered, and Latael backed away several paces. Angels all had very distinct purposes, and failing in them meant death, or the equivalent thereof. "I will not slay an unarmed woman. Pick your weapon, we shall do battle in the Astral."

"Nuh uh, no way Buddy." Rule number one about angels; never fight them in the Astral. It was suicide! Actually, that was rule two; rule one being never fight them period. "There is no way I'll do that."

"Then the oldest game is your only other choice."

Jinx caught her breath. The Oldest Game. She couldn't play it, could she?

But she had no choice. "Do you challenge me, then?" She asked, fighting to keep the fear form her voice. Latael merely nodded. "Very well, as the challenged, I pick the battlefield." Jinx quickly cast about her mind for a location. Finally, she settled on a cliff top nearby, nowhere would give her an advantage, so she had to settle for equality. The scene shifted as the laws of the game asserted their influence on reality.

"I trust you know the rules, mortal? If I win, you aid us in the task of eliminating the demon spawn."

"And if I win, you and your comrades will retreat and inform your superiors that the daughter of Trigon called Raven is not to be harmed." She was bargaining with an angel. Next would she sell her soul to a demon or apprentice under a necromancer? This was beyond stupid!

"The first move is yours, mortal."

Jinx set her face, now or never. Hesitation meant defeat in this game.

"I am a cat, night stalker soft treading."

Latael's move.

"I am a snake, quick striking, poison toothed."

Her turn.

"I am an eagle, swift swooping, snake eating."

"I am a storm, wing shredding, wind howling."

"I am a planet, life nurturing, ever moving."

"I am death, all claiming, unstopping."

The oldest game had been played by all beings in the course of time; it was a battle of wits, of reflexes, of daring. The danger of the game was that what you said you were, on some level, you were, and those who lost sometimes suffered as their final form would have.

"I am a mother, life giving, life sheltering."

"I am time, mother aging, shelter withering."

"I am dreams, of a future of hope."

"I am memories, of a past long gone."

"I am wisdom, born of time, lessons learned."

"I am ignorance, consuming and enormous."

"I am love, all enfolding."

"I am longing, soul devouring."

That was the opening she had hoped for, mention of the soul.

"I am the Name, the One, the Creator from whom all souls are born.

What then will you be?"

Latael gasped in horror and outrage. No one claimed to be the Name. No one was that impudent! "I am… defeated." Latael admitted. "I will honour our bargain, but the next to come will not be a Moon Wing. Such tricks will not work on Seraphim."

Yeah yeah, Jinx knew that. She just didn't care. She'd made it through this one, that's what mattered.

After yet another unsuccessful heist, Jinx locked herself in her room, turning the volume of her stereo to the max. She had fought against Cyborg personally this time, and was more than a little pissed off by it. He hadn't shown any emotion, none at all. She had called him Stone and very nearly asked why he had been so cruel, before he blasted her away. He didn't even turn when she crashed into a brick wall and shrieked in shock. He didn't care. She felt very justified in singing along at the top of her lungs.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust/ My hate for you, defines my lust/ Bridges to bridges, you're nothing to me/ Welcome world, Miss Ann Thrope"

After a few times through, though, Gizmo had had enough. "JINX! **Will you quit being such an emo brat and get over it! He's a hero, _we're_ the criminals!**" He was pounding on the door and shouting over the music.

"_You have left a trail of deceit, assault, and flattery/ Blasting through my wounds/ Imprisoned me in God and poetry/ A ritual to mend my angry heart/ A breeding ground for your untruth/ If God created man in his own image then----" _

"Jinx, **turn that down**! Shirk! Common, cut it out!" She didn't until he threatened to blast down her door.

"Jinx, you gotta quit taking this so seriously. Cripes. He was there to take down the academy, and he did."

"Yeah but-" She started, feeling foolish even as she protested.

"It's a mission, stupid, it was nothing personal."

"But it's not right! How could he do that?" She demanded, holding back tears.

"Jinx, if you wanted things to be right, maybe you're on the wrong side." Gizmo crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "We're the bad guys, they try to stop us. What did you expect?"

"I expected them to fight fair…"

"Well don't. Now give it up, let's see if Mammoth can eat a whole ham in one bite without choking." Jinx grinned weakly and nodded, saying she'd be up in a few minutes and not to Heimlich without her.

"_You're so pretty when you lie," _She whispered, _"Love songs always make me cry…"_ She blinked away the single tear and stood to go. She wouldn't let this ever affect her again, it was past. He would never hold this over her. No one would ever hold this over her.

"Hey, why not make it a real challenge!" She called as she sprinted up the stairs. "You gotta do this without using your hands." Mammoth took that as the signal to start an argument.

"Oh, and what are you two gonna do, huh? Back flip down the hallway while doing the Macarena? Stop a bomb coated in peanut butter with only your tongue?" He looked to Jinx and Gizmo respectively as he named these tasks. The three exchanged looks, and as one shouted:

"You're ON!"

It took them a month to recover from those dares. The first week was uneventful. Not much more than Gizmo complaining about 3rd degree burns and Jinx swearing it wasn't just a fracture. The following Monday, and how they all hated Mondays, See-More came to the warehouse nervously. Rumours had been circulating that Bumblebee was a turncoat, and working for the Titans. They asked him about it. He said only that she had betrayed Blood to the Titans, and that he was out of a place to live, and could he stay for a while? The agreement was swift, and in the next week he'd contacted the rest of his squad. Billy still wanted to try his hand alone, or as alone as Billy numerous could be considered; but Private HIVE took up the offer. He brought news that shocked Gizmo and Mammoth to their core, and Jinx a great deal as well. Bumblebee had been appointed leader of a new branch of the Teen Titans.

"How could she do that?"

"She was always so devoted!"

"A real HIVE agent."

"Bumblebee is ambitious, guys. I'm not surprised she tried to buy her innocence like that." Jinx spoke softly. "She and I were both in the final stages of the three man group phase of training. Another six months and we would've been tested for moving up. Headmistress had our exams scheduled. The mercenary corps knows as the Faction of Independent Villainous Entities would have taken us in, should either of us had passed. Wykkyd is also at that stage. As Orb and Misty are, wherever they are." Orb was a Werewolf, of the kind who could Were by choice, albeit with much pain. Misty, as her name suggested, could turn her form into vapour. They hadn't been seen since the first academy was destroyed.

"What happened to Gaea? She should have gone with them, right? They were a team." See-More asked, suddenly curious as to what happened to their classmates. Jinx's squad and Bumblebee's were the only underclassmen to merit graduation; most of their comrades were two years above, and not in classes. They had stayed with the academy only because a graduating class had to be sent to the H.I.V.E. main at set times, it was biding time.

"Gaea failed the test." Jinx answered solemnly. There was a moment of silence in respect for the dead. The HIVE trained its members harshly, pushed them to their limits. Failure in Hierarchy missions nearly always resulted in death. The academy merely prepared for it.

Gizmo finally broke the silence. "Hey, PhD, we gotta get your room set up."

"PhD?" Mammoth and Jinx asked together.

"Private H.I.V.E, dumbass." See-More grinned. "He doesn't answer to his name, so Billy would add the dumbass, or dumbo, or dummy or something of the like to get his attention. You say it enough, it becomes part of the name, hence P, H, D."

Jinx laughed at that, though Mammoth thought it demeaning.

"Demeaning? You let your team mates talk you into choking on a HAM! And you think to talk to me about demeaning?" Private H.I.V.E. barked in good natured annoyance. "Sir, you must be crazy."

"'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.'" Jinx quoted laughing.

No one dared contradict her, because it was so obviously true. Gizmo set to work on setting up 'PhD's room, while Jinx gave the grand tour for the second time that month.

"This is the living room, which houses the main monitor of the city scan. Gizmo ripped off the Titans' crime scan programs for our use. When the alarm sounds, it means we have targets within the current mission value set. We change it to fit our situations." She grinned and ushered him on.

"The kitchen, as you can see, adjoins the living room, though there's a bigger kitchen through there where real preparation is carried out. Up the right side you'll find Mammoth's weight room and Gizmo's lab, the lower levels have my room and spell room, do not go in there. The things I keep in my spell room could eat your soul, or have you speaking in rhyme for three days, or send you to an alternate dimension."

Private H.I.V.E laughed nervously and nodded.

"More on the main floor is the garage; the left basement is full of all the stuff that keeps this place running, power, security, the circuit breaker… You know the drill."

"Upstairs on the left and the first subbasement are empty rooms and halls, so yours is gonna be around there."

"And, ta-da, we're back to the entrance foyer. Now, you remember Shimmer right?"

"The change mistress? Miss instant alchemy? Horror of the training rooms? I remember her, ma'am."

Jinx smiled. "She's coming here for Christmas. Mammoth's big sister, remember."

Private H.I.V.E. looked wide eyed. "Oh no… Uhm, See-More an' I will, uh, take a vacation that week, then, ma'am."

Jinx smirked to herself then. She'd just ensured that her new roommates understood who the leader here was. And if they would listen to her, perhaps… the Faction for Independent Villainous Entities wouldn't be able to take her, well then the H.I.V.E. could have its own branch. The H.I.V.E F.I.V.E; the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination's Faction of Independent Villainous Entities. She really liked the sound of it. There were even five of them right now, but Billy would likely come, Angel and Kyd Wykkyd might even join the party. But like the hundred man army, the seven years war, the actual number mattered naught, it was the illusionary number that influenced your foes. But most importantly, she had a goal for her criminal life. That was more important.

But Bumblebee's acceptance still bothered her. Weren't the Titans suspicious? What, did she say that she was undercover? Or that she'd turned the minute Blood took over? It didn't make sense, and it felt like it was a trap to bring in the other HIVE members. But, to be safe, it was best to assume she shoved her way into the Titans like she did everything else, the pushy, bossy know it all. At least she was across the country.

And it was November! The middle of, at that. Not a good omen, not a good omen at all.

* * *

Well, there it is. This isn't exactly huge plot wise, but you know what? I don't care. The plot can creep along for all I care, bbecausethis is character driven. XP

Unfortunately, I can't promise updates anytime soon to ANY of my work. School, combined with other writing, and roleplaying, is taking my creativity.


	18. It's SHIMMER!

Yes, there was a long delay here. No, it wasn't writers block, far from it. I've had this thing written out on paper for weeks. No, the issue was I had school things to do, and then my birthday (as of the 15th I'm 17) and only just a couple days ago got around to getting this off paper and typed up. So, although you may not like it, this is one of my favorite works ever. Enjoy, and hopefully by new years the next chapter will be done.

* * *

"Shimmer's plane gets in in an hour! Mammoth! Where're the wigs and ID's? Giz! Gotta go through security, how much can do that of your gear? AHH! Is that ALIVE?!?!?!" Jinx was in high gear, ready to meet Selinda. Selinda was like the Mother, aunt, sister and twin she had never had. Jinx really looked up to her. 

"Is it in the Petri dish?" Gizmo shouted from his lab, working to the last second on some secret project or another.

"YES!" Jinx shrieked back, horrified.

"Sweet!" Gizmo jumped out of his chair and dashed down the hall. "What color is it, is it moving?"

Jinx dropped the item into Gizmo's outstretched hands, gagging. "Keep your nasty-ass experiments out of the fridge!" She said.

"Yeah, well you keep your blood soaked gemstones off the window, it's CREEPY!" He replied, sticking out his tongue.

"Both of you stop! Jinx, your gear is in the front closet, Gizmo, you gotta pack light on the weapons, and we're taking your car! Now COME ON!" Mammoth was more anxious than the rest of them, it was HIS big sister. She was the one who took care of him, and he really wanted to impress her.

The ride to the airport was pretty quiet, just a minor bickering match over who would drive. The trio arrived to find Shimmer's plane had gotten in early. When they got to the gate, she was standing waiting. Mammoth ran up to give her a hug, while Gizmo hung back, embarrassed. Jinx gave him a bit of a push and started chatting animatedly to Shimmer as the headed toward baggage claim. Promising to do all the traditional Christmas things, baking cookies, singing bawdy ballads and stealing from the rich to give to the needy, they laughed like typical teens, joking and shoving; Gizmo fell down the escalator (or was pushed, if you asked him.) and Mammoth nearly pulled a muscle lifting all of Shimmer's bags.

When they returned to the base, Shimmer was impressed. "Not bad at all, you guys are doing well for yourselves." She grinned, slapping her brother on the back as she did so. They'd worked very hard to clean the place up, everything smelled of lemons and there was only a bit of paper on the floor.

First on the to-do list was showing Shimmer the sights. She was a bit put off by the Titans, how firm a hold they had in the city.

"I could go in there and rough em up for ya." She offered. Jinx politely declines, saying they could wait until after the holidays. In truth she was afraid Shimmer might take them all out, and then there'd be a situation. Heroes from all over would hunt them down, exterminating all H.I.V.E. agents across the globe.

A trip to the mall left the girls in high spirits, although with significantly lighter wallets. When they returned home it was to the chaos of a hastily aborted gift-wrapping and a pair of whistling boys. Once their purchases were secure in Jinx's room; Shimmer was sharing it; combat practice was called.

Now it was Jinx's turn to be scared. Gizmo was prepared to avoid Shimmer, and Mammoth would not be affected much, but Jinx was susceptible to every trick the older teen could think up. She'd never won a fight against her, with good reason. And Shimmer used just short of lethal force, even if it was in practice.

Shimmer charged, ripping chunks out of the wall as she made the seamless transition from plywood to water to titanium knives. Jinx back-pedalled and dove to the side throwing hexes haphazardly. She wasn't even watching if they hit, just kept running, kicking up debris with her hexes. She screamed as a blob of a jellylike substance hit her with tremendous force, pinning her, immobile, to the wall. Shimmer closed in slowly, the knife blade carefully placed on her neck.

"You lose, Misse Sahib." She breathed, grinning.

"Not yet, Alchemist." Jinx hissed back, letting lose a powerful hex toward the ceiling. The light came crashing down, but Shimmer changed it to harmless water before it even hit her. This, of course, loosened Jinx form the wall, and she readied a hex. Unfortunately, she found herself in a headlock, her arm bent uncomfortably behind her back.

"I Yield." Jinx cried, the hated words falling from her lips with shameful ease. Shimmer let her go, and she rubbed she shoulders as the two staggered off the training floor.

"Ow." Jinx smiled weakly.

"Winner, Shimmer" Mammoth said.

"As if there was ever any doubt" Gizmo added, "Jinx always gets her ass handed to her by Shimmer, always."

"Shut up before I shove a blueprint up your-" Jinx grumbled, sitting down gingerly, careful of the fresh bruises. This was the fifth time she'd taken the older teen on today. As always, with a toss of copper hair her fate was sealed.

"I think that's enough for today." Shimmer added, towel around her neck. 'Why don't we get started on those cookies? Baran, get the kitchen ready. Do you guys still have those skull shaped cookie cutters?" Selinda's accent thickened when the mask of meta human was off, the Australian twang putting them all at ease.

"Then," Jinx grinned as they measures the flour, "We can dress up and go carolling at Titans tower!"

"And the police station!" Baran called from the pantry.

"And," Selinda smirked, a dangerous twinkle in her eyes. "The jail."

"Oooh," the other three chorused, nodding appreciatively.

"What songs are we gonna sing?" Mikron asked, looking comical with flour on his nose.

"How bout… 'Jingle bells bat man smells _Robin laid an egg!'_" Baran started, Jinx joining in on the last line before dissolving into giggles. "Yes! And… what else?"

"Santa Claus is coming to town, of course."

"Of course, the man who's always watching you and breaks into your home once a year…."

"How 'bout Making Christmas?"

"Ok, What else?"

"We'll think of something, if we have to we can always fall back on 'it's a small world'"

"Good Lord NO!" Selinda said, hands over her ears. "Mikron, that song has to be the most repulsive thing Disney ever created! And now it's stuck in my head!"

"Mine too!" Jinx complained, pouting as she rolled out the dough and stamped down a cookie cutter. Baran laughed and went back to mixing up the next batch of dough. Mikron looked slightly guilty, but mostly pleased. The whole base smelled of baking, and the relaxed atmosphere was good for all of them. They soon settled into a comfortable rhythm, and were done with the preparations before the first batch had left the oven. Trays of cookie dough sat out, tempting them. Jinx had her wrist smacked a good dozen times before they were put into the oven.

While they waited for their cookies, the four H.I.V.E. agents got themselves ready for carolling. Gizmo and Mammoth bundled up in green snowsuits, while Jinx and Shimmer donned Santa girl dresses, complete with red and white striped stockings and the trademark hat. After the cookie sheets were laid out to cool, it was off to Titans Tower.

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!" Shimmer started as they approached, her voice ringing out in the silence.

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

"Time to laugh at heroes' folly!" Jinx continued, skipping arm in arm with 'her' boys.

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

"Watch us loot and watch us plunder!" Mammoth bellowed the next line of the song.

"Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!"

"As we tear the town asunder!" Gizmo cheered

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

The quartet dissolved into hysterical laughter, only getting it together for the second verse with great effort.

"See the blazing bank before us!" Mammoth choked out in a rush

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

"Strike a match and join the chorus." Shimmer's sweeter tone too was marked by laughter.

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

"Follow me in merry measure," Gizmo had calmed down his laughter enough to sing his line.

"Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!"

"As I tell of villainous pleasure," Jinx crooned horribly off key.

"Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!" A head peered out of the tower, and Jinx, having the best eyesight of the group, perked up.

"Hey! Robin! Why don't you join us? We've got a special song, all for you." She turned conspiratorially to the others. "And a one, and a two, and a-"

"JINGLE BELLS Batman smells Robin laid an egg! Batmobile lost a wheel and Joker got away!" Even seven stories down, they could see the steam rising off the boy wonder's head.

"Dashing round Gotham,

With burglars at his back;

A lonely boy wonder,

Had Batgirl in the sack!" They knew they were pushing it, but it was too much fun. 'What Batman got the news,

We heard there was a brawl;

Not so hard to kick your ass when you're just four feet tall!" As they started in on the chorus again, a bird-a-rang or two had to be dodged.

"The Bat was getting drunk,

Catwoman came to call;

They kicked poor Robbie out,

And boy they had a ball!

So Robin he took flight,

To Jump City that night;

And for food he posed in nude for strangers at a bar!" Now they'd gotten them **really** angry. Starbolts rained down, and a sonic blast barely missed Shimmer. This was so much fun!

"Soon the spaceship crashed,

The alien was near;

And little Robin,

Pissed himself in fear.

She claimed his as her own,

Oh boy is that kid whipped;

He screams her name has he no shame they've barely even kissed!" Mammoth couldn't finish the verse, choking on laughter. Shimmer had written them in a fit of poetic genius, but actually sung, it was so brilliant he couldn't take it.

"And then the little slave,

Went back to the bat cave.

To tell the Bat he quit,

And shout 'you need a shave!'

Imagine his surprise,

Before his very eyes,

He'd been replaced by a pretty face who was"

KA-BOOM! There was a loud explosion and the four criminals decided they'd sung enough at this particular location.

"Hey, why don't we go to Slade's and sing 'Mister Grinch'" Gizmo shouted as they hurried off, leaving a very ticked and equally confused Titans watching from the tower.

The problem with the plan to annoy Slade was they had to first locate his bases, and figure out the one he was staying in. They couldn't, he wasn't. They had to settle for hitting the police station.

After the four returned to the base and warmed up with a cup of hot apple cider, they played board games and hung around until midnight. This was the Solstice night, the original holiday of midwinter.

"The year turns..." Jinx breathed in the silence of their vigil. "The sun is reborn again." After a few moments of quiet contemplation, they went to their rooms to sleep, or in Gizmo's case, to get back to work. Only a few days till Christmas, and every minute counts!

For the holidays, they'd vowed to keep legal, just as their own little Christmas present to the heroes. Plus, they had to just kick back and relax sometimes.

On Christmas morning, the usual explosions were present, along with squeals and shouts of glee.

"Holy zombie brains! Jinx, this sound system is incredible! This must've cost you a month of loot, how did you find this?" Gizmo's eyes were glazed over and drool was dribbling down his chin.

"I stalked Raven while she was doing her shopping and noted what she got. This is 20 times better than what they've got at the tower. The salesman said the bass could scramble eggs." Jinx flushed at the praise.

"Freaking awesome! Mammoth, open yours now!"

'What on earth is…" Jinx narrowed her eyes.

"_Titans! Go-oof!_" Mammoth had just unwrapped several life sized… something's, that very much resembled the puberty punks. His obvious instinct was to punch bird brain in the gut.

"**Talking Titans punching bags!** Gizmo, did you _make_ these? This ROCKS!" Much hooting and hollering ensued, and everyone admired Gizmo's handy work. Shimmer wasn't too eager to try it out, but Jinx gave a few roundhouse kicks to the 'borg-bot' and 'bluebird' models before voicing her approval

"Jinx, now your gift. We all pooled our money, and I got it before I flew in." Jinx took the heavy package from Shimmer, removed the paper, then placed the unwrapped box on her lap.

"Two layers of cold iron, one layer of blessed silver from a cross looted in the crusades, one layer of lead, that between the iron, with an interior of stainless steel lines with velvet. Guaranteed blast proof, spell proof, genuinely Jinx proof. But look inside." Shimmer informed with a gleam in her eye. Jinx carefully removed the engraved lid; fingers tracing the runes as she did so; and let out a loud gasping scream.

"AIIIIIIIEEE!! No way no way no way! How did you find this? What library in Nirvana did you rob?" She could fear herself tearing up, threatening to become a blubbering idiot.

"Don't start crying…" Mammoth sweat dropped. Jinx rounded on him, flames in her eyes.

"THIS IS A FIRST EDITION, **SIGNED**, copy of 'The Secret Garden'. You are angels! Shimmer, you're my Dickon, I'm going to hug you! " She did so, carefully placing the book back into the box before throwing herself onto the redhead. " how did you know? Where did you find it? How could you afford it? Who would _sell_ it?" Shimmer laughed.

"One question at a time!"

"I found it through a crud load of searches, and it took six months to get the snot-for-brains to sell it." Gizmo said with slight annoyance and more pride.

"Mammoth caught you smuggling copies out of bookstores, and noticed you paid for them."

"I realized it had to be important if you didn't just steal them..." Mammoth was embarrassed; he really loved his tough guy image, and hated it when someone pointed out his sensitive side.

'So we sprung for the very best copy in existence. Don't expect any birthday presents for the next decade, not that we even know when your birthday _is" _The taunt was brushed away, she didn't care if she never got another gift ever again.

'When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen...' Jinx was gone. The book had ensnared her, body and soul. She held it so carefully, scarcely breathing.. For a few precious moments, she was home again. 'She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants…' She could feel her own Ayah's hands on her cheek; smell the rich feast her mother was hosting. She could be three again, happy, loved. 'The child ate some fruit and biscuits, and being thirsty she drank a glass of wine which stood nearly filled…' She no longer worried about anything. "_Ayah will take care of me"_ she thought "_Ayah will protect me. Vishnu will protect me. Parvati and Brahma and Lakshmi will protect me."_ She was safe, and home, and was going to be beautiful like the Mem Sahib one day. She would have a handsome husband and a large bungalow with many servants; two strapping sons and two darling daughters. A beautiful, auspicious life, fit for a child named Shreya.

'Dreaming f it will gain you nothing. Our part in these events was determined the moment you first knelt before me. You cannot change what you have done. The day fast approaches when you will be forced to chose the life of Shreya or the life of Jinx. Think well child. The gifts you possess are yours alone, I merely enhanced them and gave you the means to control them. Should you chose to return to Shreya, as you were before I brought you into service, you will still recall as life as Jinx, a life of running and stealing, of rose coloured eyes and bad luck issuing from your fingertips. But that will never again be your life again. Alternatively, to chose Jinx is to forsake your place as Misse Sahib, to forever purge Shreya form your life, living only in faded memories. On the day you advise the daughter, frightened and small; you will remake yourself in the image of the name you give as your own. Chose wisely, my daughter, chose wisely, my little girl.'

Chose. Jinx will have to make her choice very soon. You think you know her choice, but believe me, you will be surprised at her conclusions.


	19. Revenge!

The half dozen boys who inhabited the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. base were scared. Jinx was smiling. That in itself was nothing to be particularly afraid of, as Jinx would grin the same before giving you a gift as hexing you into next Tuesday. No, it was the particular set of financial circumstances the group lately had been in; namely, poor; combined with the item Jinx was smiling at: the newspaper, which had them scared. They were on page two for their latest failed robbery, with a rather unflattering picture of the group fleeing the scene, but Jinx had barely skimmed the article, instead of her usual obsessive critique. Instead, she thumbed to another section, whereupon her face grew bright with pride and her shoulders began to shake with silent laughter.

The group had begun reading the newspaper religiously some time ago, for various reasons. Keeping up with their rivals in crime, scoping out new targets, they could even buy a lot of needed equipment and see how much the public knew about them. It had been working very well, though lately pickings had been slim, and all their operations had ended in them running for their lives. So, there was no reasonable explanation for Jinx smiling at the paper. Usually, if she showed any real emotion to an inanimate object, her powers were involved, which, judging from the intact state of the paper, they weren't.

Some days earlier, Jinx had invaded the lab to search through the surveillance files from the academy. She left in high spirits and returned and hour later with doughnuts, smiling much as she was now.

See-more finally caved and cleared his throat. "Uhm, Jinx? What are you smiling about?" See-more had sisters, and knew he was likely setting himself up to listen to a very long, completely uninteresting speech about something Jinx, and Jinx alone, found very important. He also knew that if no one asked her, she'd become moody and sigh until someone did.

Jinx's smile grew even larger and she set down the paper, open to the classifieds. She jabbed an image taking up a quarter of the page with her finger. "That!" See-more leaned over her shoulder to read it, and rubbed his eye furiously in disbelief.

"Did you…" he began, stunned, "did you do this?" See-more gazed in awe at his leader, who nodded. Curious, Mammoth drifted over and peered at the image. He too turned to stare in amazement at Jinx, speechless. In a matter of minutes, all of the team had seen it and expressed their shock.

You see, Jinx had waited long enough that the Titans wouldn't expect it before taking her revenge on 'Stone'. She had considered many different approaches before she settled on this one. A few of her ideas had been dismissed as too violent, too cliché or too complex. The one she had chosen, however, was without a doubt the best. Easier by far than writing a satirical song about the event, holding a pop star a gunpoint to record it, and then hacking all the area radio stations to broadcast it non-stop. No, this was simple, but the humiliation factor was the same.

Beast Boy was looking for the comics, hoping to get to them before Robin stole the paper to look for leads when he came upon the object in question. His hysterical laughter prompted Robin to seize it from him, and moments later cover his own chuckle.

"Well, you're never going to live this down." Raven droned, trying to hide her amusement.

The captioned image was of Stone in his dress and read as follows;

"LOST: My dignity. If found please return to Titans Tower."

Moral of the story? Don't mess with Jinx. It will always come back to bite you in the butt.

Still riding the high of revenge gone-oh-so-right, Jinx made her weekly trip to the black market magic quarter. She sometimes sold a few trinkets, little charms and spells she was qualified to sell to others. Even the black market had its restrictions; the magic district was no exception. You needed to be sure the toadifiying charm you bought wouldn't backfire or that the lust potion wouldn't turn into a poison. Jinx had certification to sell level C defensive and level B offensive black charms and spells, but only souvenir grade amulets and artefacts. She couldn't even _give away_ her potions, which was probably safest for everyone involved.

Jinx arrived in the unspecified location those with connections knew to check out the sales. An unfamiliar mage was crying his goods, promising curses of unrivalled levels. "Why with these spells," He boasted, "even the Titans would run in fear! Slade himself would think twice before wronging you!" Jinx approached with hasty steps and examined his wares. They were already set at high enough levels that could take out entire corporations. That was **not** acceptable. It could get in the way of her progress upwards. Jinx did not hesitate to eliminate anyone who threatened her goals. He seemed nice enough, but he had to go. Anything that powerful was a risk to the H.I.V.E., at the very least.

"Sir?" She asked, looking critically at the curses. "Have you sold any of these yet?" he replied that, no he hadn't, and if she would like to be the first he could give her a discount. Maybe they could discuss it over a coffee, his treat? _'Good, that's all I needed to know.' _She thought wickedly, leaning over to lift this chin so as to look into his eyes. Many shoppers did this, it made for more honest bartering if you were negotiating with eye contact. Then, without thinking, without hesitating, she sent a powerful hex to his brain. He died silently, eyes still open. Jinx quickly seized the curses and placed them into a pocket dimension leaving half her pocket money on his booth. Even if he was dead, the anti theft spells on the booth would alert people. But as she placed some currency there, there would be no alarms. "Sorry sir," She whispered, closing his eyes with two fingers "you were a danger to my upward climb."

It was too much to ask that no one would have seen that, and Jinx decided to forgo her shopping and hightail it out of there. It was a pity, her medical gear was running low and none of her team could afford to go to a hospital. No one trusted her healing abilities, even if Jinx herself never got sick. One of the few upsides of bad luck was how germs were eliminated. That was also the reason yogurt was taboo in the base. Jinx had to shirk her coat, toss a skirt over her jeans, and add a beanie to accomplish her escape. She slipped past the vendors with ease, but had to dodge questions form the peacekeepers, the closest thing to police you would find in the black-market. She sidestepped their inquiries with a promise that she'd be doing her turn on peacekeepers next month.

Heart pounding, Jinx shucked the costume and ran for the bay. Salt water was usually enough to break any curse, but these hadn't been targeted or activated, and she didn't know what processes had gone into their making. All she knew was they needed to be destroyed quickly and properly.

Shaking out the curses into a tide pool, Jinx took three deep breaths, not trusting enough to close her eyes. She probably should have before invoking mage sight, as she found herself on the verge of vomiting due to nausea. Her vision swam and Jinx shook her head to clear it. She'd studied every magical text available at the H.I.V.E. academy, and the lessons came uncalled to her mind. Ground, centre, invoke mage sight, read the energy flows, disperse them to break. Concentrating, Jinx focused on the power still flowing in the carved stone. A few had broken from just the saltwater, but the majority still pulsed with potential.

'Tasting' the energy, Jinx recoiled in disgust. She had expected a combination of earth and water energies, which would explain resistance to saltwater dissolution, but instead her senses were flooded by the iron taste of blood.

Blood magic in itself was one thing, but this lacked the life of a freely given offering. No, this was undoubtedly done though unwilling sacrifice, probably of animals, and definitely en masse.

Gross. Killing was one thing, but stealing the lifeblood energies of an innocent animal to use in magic? That went too far even for Jinx. The only upside was that it was easy to break now that she knew the how. Pulling a tiny razor blade from its hiding place in the heel of her shoe, Jinx sliced her thumb open, letting the blood mingle with the saltwater. Bad luck took effect right away, acting as a disinfectant even as it prevented speedy clotting. Very annoying, but she'd spilt enough blood of a willing sacrifice to give the saltwater the kick it needed to negate the curses. Sticking her bleeding thumb in her mouth, Jinx picked up each former curse in her free hand and one by one used her powers to crush them to powder.

That done with, Jinx wrapped her hand in her sleeve and slunk through the alleys to the base. Returning early and empty handed, Gizmo gave her an interrogation making full use of all of his creative oaths. He really let her have it when some blood dripped to the floor. 'What was going on and what in the execrable pit was she doing to get her hand all sliced up like a goad-whipped loaf of bread?'

She told him where to shove it and made ready to storm off to her room before remembering why she has like this. "Oh, right. We gotta keep a low profile for a bit. No market runs for the next month."

"Why not?" Mammoth asked, Kyd Wykkyd agreeing with a confused tilt of the head.

"I ... uh... kinda killed one of the vendors." Jinx looked at the floor. "He was selling things that could have gotten us destroyed in the wrong hands. A completely new face with that kind of power? Too much of a risk." The validation of her actions strong, Jinx gave them a 'what was I supposed to do?' look. Billy, or one of the clones, no one could ever tell, just stood there stunned and stammering. Mammoth and Gizmo looked a bit disgusted, and Kyd was unreadable as ever. But it was See-more and Private H.I.V.E.'s expressions of sheer unadulterated horror that made Jinx finish with "I won't hesitate to eliminate anyone who gets in my way, whoever they may be. You know that."

Though she was smiling, it was a warning. She and they both knew that one day it might be they that were getting in her way, and when that day came, they had better let her leave so she didn't have to destroy them. Jinx thought that, when Trigon was defeated, she would be leaving them anyway. With her mission done, she could become someone different, doing whatever Kali needed her to do.

Jinx spent the rest of her day in her room, working on a sketch for what she hoped to make into a quilt for her dowry, and when night fell, she was tired enough to slip into sleep with no effort. Jinx slept, and as she slept, she dreamed of all her unlikely allies in the quest to protect the Daughter. Witches and demons, soldiers and priests, infants, ghosts and scholars. All a part of the grand pattern, all working so very hard for the single simplest, purest goal, to protect existence.

* * *

Now, I could be like many authors and apologize, begging you not to kill me for the wait, but I won't. I could claim writer's block got in the way, but I won't. Instead you're getting the truth. There is no such thing as writer's block, just writers too damn lazy to do the work. Writers like me. This chapter went through about five different forms, none of which in any way resembles the finished product. I wrote out pages in my notebook, and then found myself stuck. When I get stuck, I either go work on something else, ask fellow writers for input, or go back to see where I started writing into a corner. And if none of that works, I scrap it. I scrapped a lot before I got this. I tossed out an entire story arc I had wanted to include, involving a sweet but totally split personality OC of mine, simply because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to wrap it up in a short enough time to fit into the season. So, if you wan to bitch and moan, do so. Put it in a review and let me have it. I'll be waiting, and maybe even working instead of being a lazy ass with Sims2 and so many chances to make fun of Robin. 


	20. Dragon Slave

* * *

"Angels, angels and more effing angels. I **hate angels!**" Jinx was a part of a bloody battlefield. Around her, a dozen or so mages fought tooth and nail against the armies of heaven. Charms were exploding, daggers flying. When the fight had begun, there were sixty of them. Ten fell with the first wave alone. They were able to pierce the angels' battle garb with specially designed wasting curses, giving the mages a sound advantage. Each mage had their own weapons, from swords to scythes, crossbows to quarterstaffs; everyone was armed to the teeth. Jinx was having a rather difficult time with her own chain mace. It was a bit heavier than she'd anticipated, and was looking forward to a break that would allow her to switch to the handgun. She had better aim with firearms. Not to mention reach, the angels had freaking WINGS. At least the swordsmen had come to their aid recently, doubling their numbers. 

One of her fellow mages, a priest of Loki if she remembered correctly, plummeted from the sky and crashed right into her, pinning Jinx underneath him.

"Ow." She groaned as he rolled off her, shouting "MOVE!"

Jinx looked up to see an angel diving down on her, twin blade bared. She let out a piercing 'aiiieeee!' and pulled the gun from her thigh holster. She squeezed the trigger repeatedly, aiming for the wing joints. Each hit jolted the angel backwards, streaming blond hair in its wake. This one was much more feminine, and moved as such. It used the attacks to change direction and fall into a fighting stance, wings furled.

"This is not the concern of the Silver City!" Jinx backed away from the angel, it blue eyes burning through her even as she drew the short sword at her side to parry with, the pistol still in her left hand. "The situation is under control! You will not harm her!" The shouter was one of the most able fighters, not surprisingly a devotee of Ares. Jinx used the sound of his voice to guide her steps, knowing others were doing the same, forming a circle around the gate the angels were using as transport to the lower world.

"There's too many of them!" Jinx called out, gasping as an axe crashed down where her arm had been not seconds before, skimming her shoulder. "I'm barely holding out. They've got more coming; please can we use the spell?" She shouted over the clatter of blades on mail. So many dead, she would be sick after this was done. Assuming she was alive.

"Not yet!" Screamed a dark arts mage, one who called herself a 'descendant of Morgan le Fey' She was quite formidable, Jinx would give her that. "_Favilla!_" There was an explosion of death. The mage had tagged as many angels as she could with a target, a viral substance injected into the blood, then activated the spell which reduced the angels to dregs when the virus multiplied at hypersonic rates, overflowing the body. "Keep fighting! We can't let them get to the city!" Easier said than done.

"Yer a fool! There's neigh unto a 'undred 'o them!" Someone yelled back. Jinx privately agreed with him, no way the handful of people left, even gifted as they were by various gods and spirits, could keep the angels back.

And they could keep sending them. Endless amounts of angels. The humans were tiring, they had not the stamina of the archangels they were fighting against, outmatched nearly ten to one. Shots and shouts filled the air as Jinx dove to the left, firing half a dozen rounds before wishing for a machine gun and resorting to hexes again.

Nothing they were doing was working, and Jinx had the sneaking suspicion most of the company wasn't going to survive the day.

Three angels swooped in, only the rush of air from their wings warning Jinx they were coming. She hit the ground and fired blindly into the fray. A cutlass swung down, Jinx meeting it with her gun as she pushed herself into a crouch. "urk.." The creature was stronger than she was, and the hexmistress found herself losing ground. If it weren't for the fact she needed both hands keep the blade away from her neck she would have hexed it. Unfortunately, after hours of intense battle, Jinx was without the strength to conjure a spell without the use of her hands. Shifting her footing, she shoved with all her remaining strength, and then used the responding increase in force to slide between the angel's legs and finish it with two hexes and a bullet to the back of the head.

The fight was intense, and all around angels were falling. The oracle, doubtless Apollo's, had given them two days notice before the attack on the Daughter was to launch, and so they came highly prepared, and took the angels by surprise. There were no medics, no partnerships, it was _us _against _them_ and everyone knew it. Jinx winced as she pulled the sword out of an angel's dying grasp, her own long gone. Weapons were more or less whatever you could grab, and Jinx knew without being told that everything they had brought here would stay here. On the grounds of a private garden, the fruit of some rich woman's fancy. Such a waste of twenty acres of land, she thought bitterly.

Acrobatics and speed left her, forcing Jinx to simply power through with her meager brute strength and hexes. She thrust the sword into a stomach, hacked off wings, and strangled from behind with her own, long torn off, jacket sleeve. She had been shouting out "Macbeth!" at random intervals, and crushed the mirrors on her person. The battle seemed to be endless.

And then, a Seraph came. One, alone. In all its splendor, six wings beating the air, eyes a blaze of glory. At that, the remaining mages bound together, the warriors at their backs and sides to allow perfect concentration. Together then began to chant, lead by one of Eris' chosen and Jinx, as Shiva's mage had fallen earlier in the conflict. "_Heed me, oh spirits darker than dusk,_"

"_Red beyond crimson flow like blood_"

"_In the name of those reduced to dust_"

A great orb of scarlet energy began to form at their words, each pulling strength from their gods, from their last stores of power. The force of it pulsed in the air, and some of the angels felt this and feared, turning to attack, meeting the steel of the warriors. The spell continued.

"_I pray to the shadows_"

"_Mark ye these villains that bar our way_"

A lesson in perspective, as each here speaking the words of the spell had been on the receiving end of that particular label many times, often for their actions in this war. All of them had been deemed evil or corrupt for what they did. But yet they continued to believe in the purity of their cause.

"_And to my small strength thine own ally_"

"_To deliver doom, folly repay_"

The spell was nearing completion, the strength of a dozen users at once making the power of it unbelievable. The vibration of energy was enough to make Jinx's teeth ache.

"_Come judgment from the grave_"

"_Dragon Slave!_"

The actual incantation was more fantasy than actual spell. Nevertheless, the motions, the focusing power, and the release, were evident. At the final words, they threw the spell at the Seraph, tearing up ground as it went, and detonating with a deafening explosion when it hit. The force of it knocked down all the mages involved, and the explosion reduced the Seraph to a pile of ash in a smoking crater an acre in diameter. Seeing one of the highest ranks decimated, the lower archangels and cherubim fled, taking with them what they could of the dead. It was as if a retreat was called with the death of the six-winged creature. Doubtless, there would another battle, but now Heaven had seen the cost of fighting. The would not strike again until the day of the calling.

Now, all they had to worry about was getting home in one piece, and later, whatever demons would do anything to prevent to the return of their master. Eir herself came down, not exactly Apollo or Asclepius, a minor Norse deity devoted solely to healing. She brought with her twenty of her attendants, all women, as she taught her art to no man. The gods dared not act against the Silver City, just as to take up arms against Trigon could cause revolution in Hades and Helheim. However, that was not to say they could not aid their chosen ones. Jinx found herself torn, she thanked Eir profusely, and so wanted to offer her something in return, a sacrifice or such, but worried that Kali would take offense. To another of her pantheon, Kali would be forgiving, but for a Hindi to sacrifice to a Scandinavian god? Sacrilege! Instead, she simply promised to work on her own healing arts, and gave her word that if she ever needed training, she would seek out Eir before any other.

Therefore, it came to be that Jinx was able to return to the base after her 'weekend out' in generally the same condition in which she left. Of course, she had wanted to do some shopping, which she had to cut short. She managed to get a great deal of goodies from other mages, exchanging tidbits of information and petty spells. She would have a nice medical kit, and had snagged a new grimoire filled with ways to harness and direct energy. She had a lovely chat with Laima's apprentice before taking her leave and heading home.

"You think its tough working with bad luck? Imagine when you have to get a specific positive effect with fortune and chance currents."

"Please, at least losing your concentration isn't going to blow up in your face!" Jinx shot back with a snort.

"The spell won't, but milady will." They both laughed at that, and Jinx gave the girl a hug and promised to write.

"Oh Bo-ys, I'm home1" Jinx called out as she kicked her way through the piles of trash. You could tell she'd been gone for the weekend. If she didn't remind them to clean… well, it wouldn't get done.

"JINX!" The hex mistress's eyes went wide as a small body dashed into the room and latched onto her legs. "Thank god you're back." Jinx looked down confusedly at Gizmo. What on earth could have happened to send the little genius into this state?

"Billy… Billies… oh man, Jinx, they're everywhere! Oh, and Angie just got here this morning, she's in the training room with Wykkyd. You knew he showed up the day you left, right?" Jinx nodded, trying to shift her weight so as to loosen Gizmo's grip. "I don't know what Mammoth said but he won't stop multiplying!" They were back to talking about Billy. "The entire garage…" Jinx sighed and put down her duffle bag, ready to hear the full story out and take stock of the funds. They would have to plan another heist soon, just to keep their hands in the game, regardless.

Just another day in the life.

* * *

Review. I hate finding out theres 60 views and nobody has the courtesy to review. I continue writing regardless, but if I continue to get nothing on the review front, I will make Shreya my last fic as well as my first. it's not worth it to even think about a sequel when theres just two people who are willing to help me improve. And I lose. Just so you know.Yes, I am that petty that if people don't review this, there will be no sequel. I have something like 5 more chapters planned. and that's it. Shreya to Jinx will be done after chapter 25. 


	21. Fearless Leader

See-more make the discovery one morning that not only was the kitchen refrigerator empty, but the storeroom was cleaned out as well.

"We gotta get food, Jinx." He informed his leader tiredly.

"So that gunk brained giant is eating us out of house and home?" Gizmo sneered from across the room, typing furiously at his MMORPG. "Figures. I knew it would happen someday."

"No one asked for your opinion, Gizmo." Jinx snapped back, chewing on her nails. "I'll raise ten." She added to the poker gang that consisted of herself, two Billies, Angel and Kyd Wykkyd.

"Fold."

"fold."

"fold." Wykkyd shook his head and lay his cards face down. "SWEET!" Jinx scooped up the money on the centre of the table. "Ok this cash goes towards grocery shopping." She looked around before deciding. "Kyd Wykkyd and See-more. You're coming with me. Angel, you hold down the fort while I'm gone. And when Mammoth and Private H.I.V.E. get done in the training room, make sure they shower."

Angel gave a lazy salute. "Sure thing, fearless leader" She mocked, causing Jinx to groan in exasperation. She had _told _them to stop calling her that.

"So," See-more began "how're we getting groceries without a crisis starting? I mean, we can't even walk down the street without making a scene."

"I got it covered," said Jinx, waving it off far more casually than the situation warranted.

They approached the garage and Jinx pulled a set of keys off the wall and tossed them to Wykkyd. "You're driving." She said, climbing into the back seat of the beat up station wagon. See-more raise an invisible eyebrow. He expected Jinx would want to drive, or at least backseat drive. Instead, she sat in the back silently, threading small wooden disks onto cords with a great deal of concentration. When they reached the store, Jinx made them wait a minute. "Here, take these" she forced the 'amulets' she had just threaded over their heads.

"Now, let's go" Wykkyd looked bewildered. "They make a person see you as someone who's exactly what they would expect to see, not a threat." She explained, donning her own. They cost a fortune, most people would settle for 'I'm not here, nothing to see' or a simple illusion. Jinx wasn't taking any chances.

They still hesitated. "Oh for crying out load, we're allies, of course we see each other normally. Now, can we get food already?" Reassured, they climbed out and entered the store.

Pushing the cart and grabbing items on sale, the three chatted animatedly. "Ok, who was it that taught Angie the 'fearless leader' bit?" Jinx asked, smiling to soften the accusatory tone. Wykkyd blushed. "You?" She said, surprised. Wykkyd furrowed his brows in confusion, then widened his eyes and shook his head vigorously in denial.

See-more gave a short laugh. "You called her Angie, her private name." Jinx understood now and elbowed the cloaked boy.

"Ooh, so when you're working she's Angel, just another team-mate, but when you're not, like now?" She teased, resisting the urge to nugggie him.

"Wykkyd and Angel, sitting in a tree…" She sang, only to be pushed by the now scarlet Kyd. Jinx, not expecting it, lost all fighting instinct and stumbled. Sitting down hard on the ground, limbs sprawled out, so shocked was she that a squeak found its way out as she hit. All three laughed heartily at that, and See-more helped her back up, slightly pink faced in mild embarrassment at being caught so off guard. As they manuevered the cart around corners, they had to hold the sides of their mountain of goods to keep things from falling out, and Jinx found she could enjoy herself with these two. Not as much as Gizmo and Mammoth, but they'd known each other so long it was no surprise. Her three-man team had its own secret language, be it battle codes or just inside jokes. Like the coupon, that Gizmo gave Mammoth for a full body wax last year on his…. "Oh CRAP!" Jinx said suddenly. "Mammoth's birthday is next month. We gotta get him something."

The checkout process was long and aggravating, and ended with them each pushing a cart back to the car. "Geez." Jinx complained as she climbed into See-more's lap, the back seat so filled with bags she couldn't fit. "One little grocery run set us back almost a grand. I'm gonna have to do a gem run tonight, or Gizmo's gotta take the latest look to the fence." See-more blushed, not used to treating Jinx like one of the guys yet. She somehow thought her never would. That was one of the problems you run into, when you make a team of all one gender.

Jinx wouldn't leave the radio alone the whole way to the department store, getting her hand slapped by both her companions multiple times before they arrived.

"What do you think we should get him?" See-more asked as they entered. Jinx pondered this for a minute.

"Something for cooking. You've seen how he gets when it's his turn to make dinner." Mammoth had a hidden talent for cooking, and could spend hours on a dish that took him seconds to eat.

"Hmm… hw about one of those veggie chopper things?" Wykkyd shook his head, pointing out that Mammoth could chop faster than a machine any day.

"Waffle iron?" Jinx threw out, which See-more rejected with the comment that it was all pancakes here.

"Knife set?"

"You want to give him blades?"

"Point."

"Blender?"

"This isn't a wedding gift, come on!" Jinx frowned. Kyd Wykkyd's face lit up, and he pointed at an advertisement left near the door. State of the art electric grills. Perfect!"

"Ok, so, floor seven it is." The trio trouped over to the stairs, only to find a child had puked all over them, and they were barred with a caution sign. Hopping into an elevator, See-more and Kyd Wykkyd noticed Jinx was looking uncomfortable. They were the only ones in the life, yet she had wedged herself into the corner and was murmuring under her breath. See-more was about to comment on it when the lights when out and the elevator froze.

Jinx let out a panicked shriek and crumpled to the ground. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" She whispered, arms wrapped around herself tightly. Kyd knelt down and put an arm around her, causing Jinx to jump initially, then shudder and burry her face into his shoulder. In the red emergency lighting, Jinx looked even more small and scared than they two of them had ever thought she could appear.

"Jinx, it's just a power outage." See-more soothed, trying not to become unnerved by the sight of the solid, commanding Jinx whimpering and hiding her face in Wykkyd's cloak. "It shouldn't be long before it's fixed." Jinx let out a soft laugh that dripped with hysterics.

"Just a power outage? We're stuck between floors in an inoperable elevator in a building with three subbasement levels this shaft reaches to, with no reasonable way to get help that won't arrest us, and in case you've forgotten, I'm **bad luck!**"

Suddenly the boys understood. Jinx was afraid she'd accidentally cause the machine to break, sending them to heir deaths, and from the looks of things, she was a bit claustrophobic as well. It was a very distinct possibility that Jinx would panic and let lose her powers, and who knew what could happen then. They had to distract her, keep her from losing control.

"So, Kyd Wykkyd," See-more said, trying to get Jinx's attention focused elsewhere. "When are you and Angel gonna make it official?" Wykkyd looked horrified at his suggestion. "What, you think she'll turn you down?" he joked, nudging the smaller boy. "If you don't ask her soon, I think she'll go nuts! Right, Jinx?" No response from the shaking girl.

"You know you like her. Even Billy can tell you like her, and he's completely clueless about those things." See-more continued, causing Jinx to remove her face from Kyd Wykkyd's cloak and look up at him. Wykkyd turned beet red, and Jinx smirked.

"Aw, Kyd's shy." She whispered, relaxing enough to sit up straight. "Makes sense though," She added to See-more. "With squad leader Bumblebee and Angel in the wings, quiet, shy, Kyd Wykkyd was the obvious choice to balance things out." Wykkyd bit back a chuckle.

"It's not like _Karen_ ever shuts up, and Angie is the biggest loudmouth gossip I've ever met!" See-more laughed at that, especially at how she referred to Bumblebee, as if she was a co-worker who got transferred into accounting.

"Hey, Kyd Wykkyd," See-more asked, suddenly curious. "What exactly _are_ you, and what are your powers, really?" He seemed to have forgotten that Kyd Wykkyd _never_ spoke, whether by choice or inability, no one was sure. He fidgeted uneasily, this wasn't something that could be said with body language, and sign language wasn't something he was good at.

"He's a psi vamp." Jinx spoke up, surprising everyone, as she had never been told that fact. "It's pretty easy to see he's not human. Those reflexes and strength are vampiric traits if I've ever seen any." She explained, looking occasionally to Kyd Wykkyd for confirmation. "There's no hint of bloodletting, and he rarely shows emotions that aren't reflections of those around him."

She paused for a breath, and to gather her thoughts. "A psi vamp draws strength from the emotions of others. Psionics are often mistaken from black magic practitioners, but psi vamps are in fact a different species altogether from humans. Although capable of hybridising with humans, they rarely do so, preferring to keep to themselves, unlike sanguinarians. That is, blood feeding vampires. It's rare to see a psi vamp, they are often rather shy and embarrassed by the way their power is driven." She was quoting now, eyes closed and forming each word carefully, her sentences crisp and pointed, with careful emphasis on the words. "Psi vamps are unable to generate psi energy of their own, and must drain from others life force, _prana_, _chi_, or whatever you wish to call it. They then use that stored energy for their psionic manipulation. At full capacity, a psi vamp may have as much energy as a generator, or phoenix, a being that creates an extremely high level of psi energy, uhm... Raven's a phoenix, for example." The lights flickered back on, although no one noticed. "Kyd here must drain both the static psi energy everyday emotions produce, and _prana_."

"Cool…" See-more breathed, as the elevator chimed their floor. No one was really in the mood for further shopping though, and the three made their way down the stairs without comment. Neither of them would ever force Jinx into an elevator after this. Nor would they let anyone use the mocking phrase 'fearless leader' again.

Jinx was having a crisis of conscience. Not the kind a devout Christian has when they begin to doubt the existence of God, or the kind a dieter has at their child's birthday party as the cake is brought out; not even when a doctor advises to pull the plug on a patient, although that might be the most comparable of the three. No, what the crisis was about was simple, she was wondering if what she was doing was right. Well, of course what she was doing wasn't right, if you took it at face value. She was stealing, beating people up, lying, cheating and generally being bad. But, that was what she was _supposed_ to be doing.

Put it this way:

There's right and there's wrong.

If you're told to do right and you do wrong, of course you should be punished.

But what if you were told to do wrong and you did wrong? Would you be rewarded? Or would doing as you were told be considered doing right, which is not what you were told to do, so would you be punished or would doing right being not what you were told to do being… Jinx's head hurt now, and she didn't think she would survive another round on this train of that, so she pulled the emergency break, leaping off the speeding notion and moving on with her day. Moving on with her day meant, at that moment, joining the rest of the base in the living room.

"Hey! Hey Jinx!" Gizmo called as she sat down at the computer, one hand poised over the mouse. "Come over here, we need you to figure out if Billy's human." Jinx looked over to see Mammoth and Private H.I.V.E. holding down a struggling Billy, obviously the original, or else the two in the corner wouldn't be just cowering there. Angel sighed in embarrassment.

"My fault," She admitted guiltily. "Last weekend I found out how ignorant of good literature they were, and started a book club. I bought them the books and they… well, they really took off with it." Interesting though it was, this still didn't explain to Jinx what they wanted her for.

"I, uh, gave them '_Dune_'." Angel finished, looking at her feet.

Oh.

OH.

Oh no way in HELL!

"I'm not going to be your human gom jabbar+!" Jinx said, arms crossed over her chest and frowning. see footnote Billy visibly relaxed, now that he was out of the immediate danger of excruciating pain. Gizmo and Private H.I.V.E. sulked, denied the fun of watching Billy squirm. Mammoth had only been going along because it seemed like a good way to pass time.

Jinx rolled her eyes as Gizmo stuck his tongue out at her and went back to the computer. She pulled up a game Gizmo thought was a colossal waste of money. "Why do we need to play a game where we're villains, we can just go outside and live it!" Jinx didn't care. That was the point, she could test out things in the game to see how they would go over. She could plan bank robberies much better if she had input from other strategists. She had her own supergroup, and was always discussing new ways to go about the most basic heist. Half of the successful missions the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. had carried out were one she had planned and practiced in game. Plus, it was FUN. Even a highly-trained-mercenary-criminal-who-is-covertly-preventing-numerous-assassination-attempts-on-a-half-demon-hero-while-also-seeing-to-it-that-said-half-demon-becomes-strong-enough-to-defeat-the-eighth-devil-and-thus-save-all-existence needs to have fun sometimes.

The gom jabbar is a device found in _Dune_ described in the glossary as: "The high-handed enemy; that specific poison needle tipped with meta-cyanide used by Bene Gesserit Proctors in the death-alternative test of human awareness." This "humanity test" is carried out with a box that produces pain by nerve induction, causing severe pain that is strictly psychological. Only a _human_ is considered to be able to withstand the urge to take the hand out of the box. Any person who does withdraw their hand is stung with the gom jabbar, causing instant death, and therefore proving themselves not to be human.

* * *

Sorry this took so long. It's been written for months, except for the last paragraph before the footnote which was just added on to explain a bit why. Final exams and such are over, free from school, I finally got around to typing it up. You can expect the next chapter sometime before July... I hope. I'm home all day, so even though all I have is a three sentence outline, it shouldn't take TOO long.

But only if you review. Pester me in reviews, or on Gaia or whatever, but I won't write without someone pushing me. I'm lazy and addicted to city of heroes/villains which I just paid for 6 months more of. So, yeah. Give me a reason to write. Because as fun as it is, you won't read it if it stays in my head giving me interesting dreams.


	22. Big flaming number too

I'd like to thank the people who reviewed the previous chapter. You know who you are.

* * *

The difference between a demon attack and an angel attack is as big as the difference between the beings themselves. It would be hard to say, however, which was the more dangerous. Demons had a sneaky manner, they'd rather not fight you mano a mano. Angels, with their high-minded honour, were predictable, to the point of being counter intuitive. A straight, fair fight, with no tricks, no decoys. They cared not for themselves, the original jihadis. Demons knew well the proverb 'he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.' When it came down to it, they weighted things against THEIR greater good. You would never see a demon kamikaze, ever.

Another difference was in their numbers, and how you matched them. Angels either came alone or in entire battalions. Alone, you were best off two to one, they would never strike from behind, always moving their attacks so as to come at you from the front. As such, they leave their own backs open to attack, and they never move to remedy this, as they cannot fathom an attack from behind. In groups, you had to have matching or greater numbers and the luck of the gods to stand a chance. When one of them went down, none would help them, simply charging in to avenge. Demons, on the other hand came alone or in very small, half dozen or less, groups. You never fought a demon with allies.

You might think the best bet with a demon was to surround it and bombard it with attacks. Not so, unless you and your partners are somehow invulnerable to each other's attacks. Otherwise, enemies strengthen you, allies weaken. You must be willing to hold nothing back. A berserker like rage cutting down everything in your path was the only sure-fire way to defeat a demon. The attacker has to be able to have no hesitation, striking at anything that moves. A demon will only stick to a fight it can't win if running away brings them a more gruesome death. If they can get away with it, they won't do the fighting themselves, using human hosts, animals, magical constructs and other minions to do the dirty work. Do not mistake this for cowardice, it's just pure survival technique.

Angels believe they are right and therefore **must** win. Demons just wan to be on the winning side, especially in the case of fallen angels, they will turn and ally with the strongest in an instant.

But of all the differences, speech in battle came top of the list.

"You little _canicula_, I aughter!"

"You oughta what? Slice me with your sword?" Jinx mocked, looking at the twisted piece of scrap metal. "Rain hellfire on me?" She pressed a finger to the spell tag holding the demon immobile and powerless. "Report me to your lord Trigon?" Jinx tapped a finger to her lips in thought, looking upwards. "Oh, that's right! You're _running _from your lord Trigon." The battle had been swift and decisive, Jinx catching the unsuspecting demon as he made for the bay and hurling spell after spell. After trapping him beneath a car and melting his sword beyond use, she'd had a good run around before finally being able to feint and get under his guard, planting a Buddhist spell-tag on his forehead.

"Seems you and your little buddies decided, since he was gone, you'd be dukes of hell, and divided his lands among yourselves." She shook her head disapprovingly. "If he gets free for even an instant, your lives'll become a living hell, so to speak."

"You filthy human. When I get loose!" The demon struggled in vain. Jinx rolled her eyes and pulled a piece of magnetic chalk from her sleeve.

As she drew out a circle around him and placed the proper pentacles at the cardinal directions, she said, "You're not _getting_ loose. There" Dusting off her hands and putting the chalk away. " Demon, I bind thee." She ordered, throwing out a splayed hand.

Buddhist spell-tags were the best way to get a demon to stay still, but to bind one to your will you needed a circle. Jinx needed to get information out of this one, those were her orders, not to kill but to pump every last morsel of knowledge from him.

Sitting down on a pile of rubble that had once been a car, or maybe it was a mailbox, she couldn't tell, Jinx asked boredly "What is your name, demon?"

"None of your brimstone, witch!" The demon snarled, showing tiny sharp teeth that put one in mind of a shark. Irritated, Jinx made a show of picking up the discarded sword and melting it further, the warped steel now blacked and curled in upon itself, making it worthless as anything but an exceedingly ugly paperweight.

"I bound you, you stinking pus-bag. What is your friggin name?" No more miss nice guy, if it was gonna get snotty, she could do the same. In fact, she could probably out snoot any demon ranked lower than a Count or Countess.

"Ilpamap." He spat out, fiery eyes staring daggers at her.

"Good demon." Said Jinx, smirking.

"Go burn yourself at the stake." Ilpamap snapped, trying again to rip the tag from his head and getting scalded for his efforts.

"More witch lines? When were you last on earth, the middle ages?"

"Shut your trap you meat bag. You can't hold me here forever!"

And she couldn't. Her skill with binding circles was only passing. She had concentrated far more on protection and shielding circles when she was working with high magic, and her courses on ethical demonology meant she couldn't draw a torture-binding circle properly.

"Who sent you?"

"Lady Nasihelehon." Interesting, a demoness. She'd not met many of the upper ranks of demon society, and none of them female. Jinx frowned, knowing now she was up against a tactician who was likely far more experienced than she.

"And why did she send you?" Jinx pressed, her internal clock telling her she needed to wrap this up before she was missed at the base.

Ilpamap tried not to speak, ordered not to divulge his mission, but he was bound. His will was not his own. "To capture the daughter of Trigon" he finally gasped out.

"Capture?" asked Jinx, frowning "Not kill? Why?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Ilpamap, who serves Lady Nasihelehon under Trigon the terrible, answer me **why**!" The demon wailed in pain.

"Killing her now, could bring him back."

"What did you plan to do with her?"

"That wasn't part of my job."

"I order you to tell me!" Jinx roared, hex energy flaring from her eyes and sparking out of her clenched fists to put tiny fractures in the concrete at her feet.

"I don't know! I mean, maybe they were gonna extract her demon soul and put it in a bottle or something."

"What would that do?" she demanded, hating the ignorance she felt at not knowing.

"Well, you'd get one hell of a genie, and leave a fully human girl comatose until her inevitable sudden death."

"Return to your mistress and tell her the gem is not to be touched. It is only her continued existence as she is that is keeping me from killing you, and she is the only slim chance you have to be free of Trigon forever."

"Like Hell I will." The demon said, not budging. "You don't have the balls to command me." Jinx bristled. This was fast approaching the limits of her tolerance.

"I charge you to vacate this plane" Jinx began, walking clockwise around the circle, eyes never leaving the demon. "And return immediately from whence you came, never to return. And further I charge you to do all in your power to prevent any interference with the daughter of Trigon, including your fellows coming to this realm." She had nearly come full circle now and was ready to complete the binding. "By the power that binds you and that which I comment, you have been charged, and will obey!"

"Make a sodding production out of it, willya?" the demon grumbled as Jinx drew the sign in the air to dissolve the spell tag. With a pop and a cloud of sulphur, he vanished, bound to her will.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Jinx sighed. Demons she could handle. A few bursts of her unrestrained energy had anyone lower than a captain running scared. And with two years of demonology, binding them was an option. Yeah, Jinx decided, she'd take a demon attack over an angel one any day of the week.

Jobs, that is was of earning an income other than fencing stolen goods, were not easy to come by. So when Gizmo found a job, not only for himself, hacking some politicians bank account and planting bribes, and one for Kyd Wykkyd, cat burglary of an item darling daughter didn't get in Daddy's will, Jinx was surprised.

"And here I'd thought you had no talent for pulling in clients, short stuff. Way to go." She said, genuinely proud of him. No sooner were the words out of her mouth, however, than a laser took her in the chest. Jinx stumbled, immediately righting herself and letting her body fall into a familiar fighting stance, knees bent, weight on her toes, left foot forward. "What the hell, Gizmo?" She was wary, had Gizmo turned on her? Had, against all reason, Blood somehow managed to regain his hold on him?

"Short jokes are **not** tolerated pea-brain!" Jinx breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the maniacal genius glaring daggers at her was just miffed at a nickname and was _not _going to let his thumb wander to the trigger of the laser again.

"_Sorry_" she muttered. "Tell me how everything goes tomorrow, k?" Jinx didn't wait for his answer, dashing to her room instead.

She rummaged through her closet for a while before pulling out a black PVC skirt cut long in the back and almost indecently short in the front, and a deep purple blouse with no right sleeve. The asymmetrical style was what had attracted her to the shirt to begin with, and Jinx felt it gave a sophisticated rebel look to the whole outfit. She grabbed a purse, slipped on a pair of flats and scampered up the stairs, heading for the door.

"Bye! Don't wait up for me, k guys? I'll see you later!" She called back over her shoulder as she made for the airlock, only to be stopped by See-more.

"Where are you going?" He asked, arms crossed. Jinx was anxious to get out of the narrow hallway and into the open air.

"I've got a date with Emilio tonight." She replied casually. "He's a sweet boy."

"Isn't your 'sweet boy' like, nineteen?" Mammoth asked from the kitchen, having overheard the conversation as it echoed down the hall. "And as tall as me?"

Billy perked up. "The same one who gits you wine an then walks you home when you're too tipsy to be left alone?" Gizmo snorted in laughter at that. Jinx flushed.

"His grandfather is the local Mafia Don. And he _is_ sweet." The disbelief was almost palpable. "No father, but half a dozen brothers." Jinx muttered under her breath "Honestly, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." No response other than snorts of laughter and a disapproving look form See-more. "GAH! You don't own me, I'm going. And trust Emilio, if I ever take off, I'm not leaving you any note, but there will be word with him or his sisters. Ciao!"

The minute she was out the door, Jinx pulled the bands out of her hair and began to comb it until she was satisfied with the curl. Clucking her tongue, Jinx headed for the bus stop to catch a ride to the downtown family restaurant she and Emilio always met at. A quiet place, owned by Emilio's older brother Marco and his wife.

Helena welcomed her as soon as she walked in the door. "_Senorina_! Ah, you are just in time, Emilio is in the back finishing some inventory. Please, Jasmine, tell me how those boys of yours are." It was Helena who decided on the name Jasmine for non-business matters. She was incredibly nice, if there was such a thing as a mafia den mother, Helena was it. Soft brown eyes took Jinx's measure before nodding in approval.

"We're all doing very well, thank you. How are you and Marco, huh?" Jinx replied, smiling sincerely. "You going to make Emilio an uncle any time soon?" Helena laughed, a low musical sound that managed to show in her entire body language, crinkling up her eyes and shoulders shaking slightly.

"No, not yet. But my mother in law, well, she begs for grandchildren." Jinx laughed in reply, gesturing to the kitchen in askance. A slight inclination of her head told Jinx she was free to go. Slipping through the swinging doors, she made her way through the kitchen, stopping only to greet a chef she was friends with, and to the back room where Emilio was waiting for her.

Jinx had to stand on tip-toe to plant a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth, and was instantly caught up in strong arms and spun around. "Beautiful as always, Jinx" She gave a playful slap to one olive-skinned hand.

"Flatterer."

"They say it will get you everywhere." The dark haired youth replied, taking a seat on the well-worn leather couch and letting Jinx arrange herself artfully on his lap.

"So where are you taking me tonight, hmm?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder and inhaling the faint spicy scent of his cologne.

"Well," Emilio began, his fingers slowly tracing her bare arm. "I thought we'd go to that movie you mentioned you wanted to see, and then come back here for a quick bite and a raid on the wine cellar." Jinx murmured her approval, declaring they could skip the meal and hit the wine right away. Wrapping her arms around his neck and relaxing, Jinx let him be the one on the alert. It was only fitting, this wasn't business. If she had been here on business, she'd be in full uniform, hands on her hips negotiating her terms. She would probably have some type of weapon on her too, to counter all the ones that would be on the persons of her potential clients. As it was, she felt safe enough to enjoy herself and trust Emilio to sense and avoid any danger.

With the exception of what he put them in on his motorcycle.

"You're going to get us both killed, you freaking psycho!" Jinx shrieked as they roared through the night at twenty plus miles above the speed limit. Even with her helmet and the roar of engines, Jinx could still hear his snort of disbelief. She wrapped her arms tighter around Emilio's waist and laughed as they wove in and out of traffic, like a scene from one of the various Matrix movies that were always being shown on TV these days. It was exhilarating, to court death in this way. Every turn tipped her to the pavement with a lurch, and the shouted obscenities from slower drivers paled in comparison to the pain promised if they were to stop short. Lights flashed by as they covered half the city, Jinx thrilling at the feel of the powerful machine between her thighs and the strong body in front of her. She was almost disappointed when they arrived at the theatre. As she shook out her hair, Jinx was again grateful she'd made so many contacts while in the academy. If she hadn't been working for Don Luccio, she would have never met his grandson. The one who had just asked if she didn't mind him paying for the movie. Never did she expect a young man to know how to handle paying, yet here we has, knowing exactly how to do the kindness of treating her without the arrogant assumption she couldn't pay her own way.

She pouted for a moment in thought. "All right, since I treated last time." She finally relented.

"And since our money comes from the same place anyway." Emilio added before purchasing the tickets. Jinx laughed.

"What can I say?" She asked, "Your grandfather distributes his coin very freely."

"Only to those he trusts overmuch or likes enough to care about the wellbeing of."

Jinx wondered which of the two categories she fell into, and assumed it would be better not to know. They'd arrived just a few minutes before the movie was to begin, and had to push past others to get seats. It hardly mattered; Jinx had been looking forward to this for so long nothing could spoil it. The movie wasn't anything her roommates would enjoy, being neither explosion filled or gory. It was intense, dramatic, and required thought on the part of the viewer. Not what most would consider a date movie, for sure. In fact, Jinx ended up not missing a minute, but then, neither did Emilio. Before they had even left the theatre they were deep in discussion, comparing mental notes on the film's presentation and use of symbolism.

"I thought the interview scene was the best done of the movie."

"Well, it was pretty good, but the pocket-watch sequence felt more profound."

"The pocket-watch sequence? But it was so obvious."

"That's just the thing!" Jinx argued, "It gives you a look into Jones' character, you see? It just gets the full extent of Vincent's illness out in the open, and puts previous events into perspective."

"I still think the pen tapping out S-O-S and the whole 'no eye contact' questioning was better."

Jinx rolled her eyes as she picked up her helmet. "Ok, the Morse code _was_ good, but I still think the silver and related vampire and werewolf references were just as good, if not better."

"Fine, a reasonable compromise." Said Emilio, pulling on his own helmet and straddling the bike. The hex witch decided to ignore the jab and took her spot on the back of the motorcycle, preparing to have yet another near death experience.

"Emilio, you crazy bastard!" Marco greeted his kid brother as they arrived back at the restaurant. "You trying to get killed?" This comment was accompanied by a slap on the back. Jinx snickered.

"No, but the young lady and I were hoping to indulge in some of your fine wine."

"Ah! Watch yourself with him, he's a devil!" Marco warned Jinx teasingly. "And, you're gonna have to stay out of the office, there's some business going on. Don't want you getting into trouble."

"Marco, I'm hardly an innocent, how bad could it be?" Jinx asked, not worried.

"These guys are real scum. You'd be best avoiding them." Marco said seriously. "They'll lie to you so sweetly, you'd swear they worshiped the ground you walked on, then turn on you, killing your friends and family before you can say 'sting'."

"Sounds like my last boyfriend…" she muttered in response."All right, but I want a nice red wine as a bribe. The pick of the cellar." Emilio took her arm and led her into the back room the night had begun in, letting her make herself comfortable while he fetched the bottle from the cellar.

Jinx savoured her first sip, letting the taste of the grape wash over her completely before giving up all thought of moderation and draining the glass in one swift movement.

The comment Billy made about Jinx coming home 'tipsy' could qualify for understatement of the year. She didn't get tipsy, she got drunk off her gourd at times. Made her wonder why people thought magic users shouldn't drink, it was in all the fiction she'd ever read, yet she'd never lost any control while imbibing. In fact, if she had the need to, she could call up a lot MORE power while drunk. Plus, it was fun.

"Right, now tell me what this last boyfriend did."

"Well, you know my group, close as a Family in some ways, right?"

"Closer, you don't go shooting each other for kicks."

"You'd be surprised. But anyways, he gets in all close like he's our best buddy, most loyal compadre. And then, BOOM!" Jinx slammed her open palm on the table to emphasise the seriousness of the action. "Bombs the bloody hell out of our _omerta,_ our code of silence. Has us all running like chickens with our heads cut off, scared witless from this. I mean, he freaking squealed like a pig."

"Who is this guy?" Emilio asked seriously. "I'll have some guys take care of him if you so much as ask."

Jinx blushed. "Nah, I got him. Tha's real sweet of ya to offer, but I got him good. Ha! Wish I coulda seen his face when it happened, but, that's how it goes." They were both slurring a bit, being an hour into the bottle… or bottles, and Jinx was draped rather suggestively on the couch, but no one was there to see, and had they, no one would have dared comment.

"No, but seriously, I mean, he ripped apart all our security and structure and on top of that left us homeless."

"No way, I heard about that. But I thought, didn't you say that was Titans?"

"Did I say that? Well good" Jinx paused to refill her glass. "Cause it was, he called em in on us, cause ya see, you see, what it _was_ was, he was one of them."

"So why'd you go and let him in then?" Jinx screwed up her face in a rather unladylike expression.

"We didn't _know_ he was one of them. He was using an alley… alebe… twas in disguise."

"And you dated him?"

"Eh, sorta. One dance. Real square, but had that kinda bumbling idiot kinda appeal."

"Thought your team were all bumbling idiots and you hated that about em."

"No, I mean the innocent bumbling idiot. Knows which end of the sword to hold and who to stick it in, but not much else."

'So he used a sword? That's mad awesome." Emilio said, impressed.

"No no, but I fought a guy with a sword once." Jinx boasted, setting aside her glass.

"No shit?" He asked, leaning forward to catch her every word.

"Big flaming number too," Jinx nodded, "Nearly took my head off."

"Nah, you musta saw that in a movie." Emilio shook his head.

"Flaming sword." Jinx insisted.

"Gods blood…"

A few moments of mindless chatter later, Jinx sat up and declared, "I'm too drunk for this," and stumbled over to the sink to wash her face and drink a few glasses of water. At least she wasn't puking. Emilio would never laugh at her, but still….

"I'll take you home." He offered.

"Walking. You nearly kill us on that bike sober."

"All right, fine, we walk." Emilio agreed disappointedly. "Lemme find my shirt... your shoes are around here somewhere." The young man stretched, unfolding his long body and fishing around behind the couch for his missing shirt. Jinx bit back a remark about the tousled state of his hair and pulled a comb out of her purse to attempt to bring her own under some kind of control.

She was going to pay for this in the morning, Jinx knew. After missing articles of clothing had been located, the pair had started the two mile, as the crow flies, walk back to her base.

It was late, or rather, early, however 3:00 am was reckoned. The cool night air felt good on her face after the slightly smoky back room with the scent of cooking drifting by.

They didn't talk, an unspoken rule was that when someone said they were drunk, conversations ended. It made sure drunken brawls never happened, at the very least. Mumbles of apology and thanks when someone stumbled were occasionally heard, and Jinx's whispered profanities directed at her shoes would have made a sailor wince, had he understood Hindi.

Even so, it was an unremarkable night, just enough cloud to balance stars, the occasional breeze, the rare screech of tires, or that of some joker out causing trouble with his friends. It was times like this Jinx could _almost_ enjoy the city. She had never told anyone, not that there was anyone to tell, but she missed India.

She missed running barefoot down a dirt path to the river to bathe, scraping off the layers of red dust that coated her body and clothing.

She missed the sounds of the bordering jungle as it threatened to take both village and temple back into its folds.

When Jinx was small, she had run amok throughout town and wilderness, climbing trees like a monkey or sitting stone still atop a pillar until some curious person wandered up and she would jump shrieking onto their back.

People didn't love her there, and she didn't love them, but the land, now that she loved, and was loved in return. When she had lived in and around the temple, she was never hungry, ever, though other trainees grew thin on the food the temple received as offerings. Everything she needed, she could find for herself. Armed with her developing powers and an ivory knife that had been a part of her mother's dowry, she feared nothing the forest could hold.

Jinx missed that freedom to depend on only herself, to use her powers whenever she wanted, although during chores was a bad idea. She missed, quite simply, being at one with the land.

Which was why she had decided, when Trigon was defeated and her mission complete, she would go back to being Shreya. It would hurt to leave her family at the H.I.V.E., but the hurt of this concrete and metal world she had been a part of for these past six years was far worse.

She was a sorceress, wielding the elements. Here, in this land, they were distant and unresponsive, save bad luck, which was always abundant. Conjuring a flame with a gesture was impossible. Taking a sip of water to collect and wash toxins from the body was a practice no one had heard of. Whistling down a wind simply wasted breath. The pure sorcery didn't work here, even calling on gods produced only a faint trickle of power.

Jinx wasn't suited for this world. All her villainous aspirations lead inevitably to one thing: the freedom to leave this country for somewhere she could connect and use her full powers.

As much as proving herself meant to her, Jinx knew she was nothing more than a pawn. A valued pawn, but ultimately replaceable. And not just to Kali, but the H.I.V.E. as well. They didn't need her, in fact she got the impression even her base full of boys would rather she weren't there at all.

So she had decided, beyond a shadow of a doubt, someday soon she would be going –

"Home." Emilio finished his sentence, startling Jinx out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I _said_, I've done my job walking you home." Jinx blinked a few times before realizing she was indeed at the warehouse door.

"Thank you. I had fun. Don't forget to call if you need anything." With that, she slid the door shut behind her, wincing at the clang, and brought a burst of hex energy to her fingertips to light her way down the stairs to her room before collapsing into bed.

* * *

People at the robin and starfire shrine know how lazy I am and how much I bitched as I typed this up from my notebook. Something like nine pages on paper, front and back.

The movie Jinx and Emilio went to see... I completely made up.

This is probably the longest chapter yet. Whoo.

You can expect the next three chapters to be very fast paced and action filled, with 25 being the final chapter. I chose to leave out the mother mae-eye episode, mostly becuase its jsut one humiliating episode based on comedy with no relevnce to any plots. So it happened, but I'm not gonna write it.

As usual, if you want this to update faster, reviews are the best bet. I have part of chapter 24 written, but thats becuase its the big showdown and I was bored sometime last year in school. And until something inspires me, well, you can't expect an update anytime soon at this rate.


End file.
